Playing Both Sides
by Tamarai
Summary: Rogue is good at infiltrating enemy bases as a double agent, but maybe this time, she's a little too good. Romy
1. Chapter 1

**Playing Both Sides**

**Summary:** Rogue is good at infiltrating enemy bases as a double agent, but maybe this time, she's a little too good. Romy

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men, nor am I affiliated with Marvel in any way.**

**Author's notes:** I just can't seem to resist the call of the new X-men cartoon even though it was cancelled after only one season, so here's another fic in this verse! I like that Rogue and Gambit never met on the show, it keeps so many possibilities open. For those unfamiliar with the 'toon, I've taken the liberty of keeping things easy to follow and slightly AU.

A few notes: The MRD stands for the Mutant Registration Department—a government run program for capturing and detaining mutants, claiming it's necessary to register and imprison mutants for public safety—although they seem to have mutants that work for them. They are the show's main antagonist. S.H.I.E.L.D. is like a secret ops program that enlists all types of people or mutants with special abilities, running its own secretive agenda, mainly for the good of everyone regardless of the ruthless methods used at times. Sometimes they are protagonists, sometimes they are not. I did not want to bring the mojoverse into this fic, but to keep canon with the series, it is briefly addressed.

As always, I use minimal accents, I truly believe your imaginations are far better than all my misspelled words and apostrophes.

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><p>Some things were just all around bad ideas.<p>

This was one of those things.

Rogue had that queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she waited in the small, bare room for her analysis results. If she passed, she would become a full fledged mutant spy for the Mutant Registration Department.

She had no choice.

She had to pass.

She had been equipped with all the right answers to all the right questions. She had trained to meet the requirements. She had even matched the psychological profile. There was no way she would be refused.

She was without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect candidate for the job.

It still didn't stop her nerves from wrecking havoc in her mind as she waited quietly in the empty room. She refused to make any nervous gestures because she was being monitored by the recruiters. She didn't want to show any signs of weakness or self doubt. She had to look like she deserved to be here. Wanted to be here.

Truth be told, this was the last place Rogue ever wanted to be.

The uneasy feeling in her stomach only confirmed that fact to her.

But she was the _perfect candidate_ for the job.

Logan had said so himself. It had been confirmed by Xavier. The entire team agreed that Rogue had an affinity for espionage. With her mutation, she was able to recover information that would help her blend in, meet the standards, adapt her behaviours and gain the trust of those surrounding her. Above all, her ability to acquire other's thoughts would keep her from looking suspicious in places where under other circumstances, she would.

It also didn't hurt that she was a tricky girl to read. Any psychic would scream in frustration trying to get a solid lock on her thoughts. She simply had too many. It was nearly impossible to have her mind read because of all the thoughts, memories and personas of everyone she'd ever absorbed milling around in her head. Emma Frost, a psychic of the highest order, had likened it to trying to hear a whispered conversation across a crowded, noisy restaurant with a live band playing.

Rogue wasn't sure whether she liked the idea of officially being known as the team's double agent. Sure, she had done it when she had briefly joined the Brotherhood, but she hated the idea of basing her life on lies and deceptions in order to acquire information. It was a double edged sword being good at something that followed a very limited code of ethics. It was a dirty and unscrupulous job full of betrayal and backstabbing, and it bothered her just how good she was at it.

It stemmed from a dark side in her psyche. She wasn't even sure it was a trait that had originally belonged to her. For all she knew, it could have been a personality quirk from someone subletting her mind. That was a bit of a problem with her mutation. Everyone in her head, all the time. Most times she could keep everyone organized, at least as organized as someone could shuffling things around in their mind. It wasn't like cleaning a house where she could physically move an object into a closet or a box.

The door behind her opened and a man entered with a stern expression and a clipboard.

"Well?" she asked in a blasé tone. "Do I meet your standards or what?"

The man seemed slightly put out by her manners. It was exactly what she wanted. To care too much would be suspicious. Instead, she acted as though she couldn't have cared less whether or not she got in. It was a dangerous game she was playing, but in the end she knew it would pay off.

Her devil may care attitude and lack of concern for anyone but herself would show through and the MRD wouldn't be able to resist hiring her.

"Well, Miss…uh," the man paused to glance at his clipboard, "Rogue…your results classified you as a perfect match for our program. We'll be sending you to our base of operations where you'll be briefed with the rest of our team."

"And my money?" Rogue asked, callously interrupting the man.

"Already wired to the bank account you provided us with."

"Good," she answered as she stood up, not bothering to shake the man's hand.

"The helicopter is waiting for you."

Rogue gave the man a sharp smile before sauntering out the door. Annoyed, he followed after her, trying to assert his dominance over her. It didn't work very well. Rogue had to smirk when they reached the landing pad of the helicopter and the man was still trying to play catch up to her long strides.

She gave him one last nonchalant look before deliberately spitting out a wad of gum into a nearby trash can. The man scowled angrily as she climbed aboard the helicopter, promptly ignoring him. Spitting her gum out may have looked like a rude gesture, but it was in fact her way of leaving a trail of bread crumbs for her real team.

Obviously being wired with a microphone would be too dangerous. Once Rogue was in undercover, she was on her own, only able to contact Logan and the others sparingly if at all. The gum in the trash was code. Logan would find it and know she had gotten in safely.

The helicopter began to rise into the air and soon she'd be thrust into the dark world of mutant mercenaries and saboteurs working for the MRD. Everything was going exactly according to plan, but her bad feeling never let up.

There was something about this mission that just didn't feel right. She'd never been a particularly superstitious person, but given the feeling in the pit of her stomach right now, she knew this job wouldn't end well.

A bad feeling is a bad feeling, and nothing good ever came to a girl who ignored her gut instincts.

And Rogue was doing just that.


	2. Chapter 2

From the outside, the building was nothing more than a condemned housing complex. It looked as though the first two floors were the only ones of any use. Rogue couldn't believe that this relatively ordinary, decrepit place was the base of operations for mutants who had turned on their own kind.

She was escorted by the surly MRD agent and was met at the front door by a somber mutant with dark shadows under his sad eyes. His expression and demeanor startled her. He was not what one pictured when 'traitor' came to mind. He was pale and gaunt, as though the sadness in his eyes had dripped over into his entire being.

The MRD agent spoke briskly to the mutant on front step. "Northstar, this is Rogue, the new recruit. Show her around, familiarize her with how we work."

It was clear to Rogue that this mutant didn't appreciate being ordered about or talked down to. She didn't blame him, taking orders from someone who clearly despised them, like this snide agent, would have pissed her off too. The difference was she would have said something. Northstar, however, kept his mouth shut and merely nodded to the agent.

He seemed pretty passive for an evil mercenary working against his own kind for the government, and that just didn't add up to her.

Northstar heaved a great sigh and rolled his eyes in extreme annoyance. "Come on," he muttered.

Rogue caught his distinct French accent. It was different from the Cajun French she'd grown up with. _Canadian, perhaps?_ It would explain his name, Northstar, hailing from the North.

"I expect you can carry your own bags?" he asked with annoyance when she didn't move from the bottom of the steps, too busy lost in her thoughts.

"Yeah," Rogue answered back. It wasn't like she wanted a stranger touching her stuff, but good manners dictated that he should have at _least_ offered his help. She begrudgingly lugged her luggage up the stairs and followed the sallow-faced mutant.

He led her inside the building and Rogue was careful to pay close attention to her new surroundings. The place was an absolute dump. A dive, to be exact. She wrinkled her nose when she caught sight of a giant roach climbing one of the dark, water-stained walls.

"Elevator doesn't work," Northstar mumbled gloomily. "Unless you can fly, you'll have to use the stairs."

"Can't see myself flying anytime soon," Rogue answered with a lighter, friendlier tone. It was an attempt at gaining an ally or even quick acceptance to this place.

Northstar didn't even crack a smile. He only continued to lead her up the creaky staircase where the bedrooms were located.

Rogue almost gagged in disgust when he stopped at the tiny, rundown room closest to the staircase. The room was almost bare, caked in dirt and dust with a dingy, stained mattress in one corner and broken beer bottles scattered everywhere else.

For the first time since meeting him, Northstar looked compassionate. "Sorry," he said regretfully. "You missed out on 'room-picking' day."

He seemed genuinely sorry and Rogue was thankful for the tiny speck of friendliness towards her. He looked like he could use a friend himself. She softened her demeanor, briefly forgetting why she was here in the first place and most of all, forgetting why _he_ was here.

He was a deserter to his kind. Rogue had almost forgotten that when she met those sorrow-filled dark eyes. She was about to tell him that it was okay, and that she'd take the crumby room without complaint, except that sort of normal behaviour was liable to make her the resident sissy amongst these hardened mutants. The last thing she wanted or needed was to be bullied and picked on while she was here.

No, it was best to establish that she was tough and hard right from the start. She instantly noticed another room with its door open. A much nicer room, bigger too. She smiled. The perfect opportunity to assert herself had just come up.

"I think," she mused out loud in a dangerous tone, "that I want _this _room instead." She pointed past him to the much nicer, cleaner room.

"Good luck," Northstar answered sarcastically. "That's Gambit's room, and trust me when I say you _do not_ want to cross that guy."

Rogue gave a bored shrug. "That door's open and as far as I'm concerned, that means it's up for grabs." She moved towards the door.

Northstar jumped in front of her with amazing speed, blocking her from entering the room that she had just decided to make hers. She would have shoved him out of the way to make her point clear, but something in his eyes made her halt.

Fear.

True fear replaced the sadness in his eyes as if it had seeped in from some dark corner, erasing all his previous emotions.

"Please," he pleaded quietly. "You're new, you're used to being a top dog, I understand that, but you _really_ don't want to mess with _him_."

"Mess with who?" a smooth, dark southern voice answered from behind her, stealing her question.

Northstar's eyes widened, now drowning in absolute terror. Rogue expected him to start cowering any second. Obviously he knew something she didn't, but she refused to show her fear as plainly as Northstar did. She slowly turned around to meet the new mutant standing behind her.

She gasped quietly when her eyes set sight on him. The way Northstar's body convulsed in fear, she hadn't expected him to look the way he did. She had half expected a monster, not an Adonis.

He was tall, much taller than her. Even propped up in a dangerous lean against the hallway wall he was tall. His strange red eyes pierced hers sharply as a slow smirk slid menacingly across his perfectly sculpted lips. _The body of an angel with the eyes of the devil_, she rattled poetically in her mind as she took in the rest of him with her gaze.

A shuffling noise broke the spell she'd fallen under. She followed the noise to his long, lean fingers where a deck of cards ran swiftly from one hand to the other. She could tell instantly that it was skill that required very little effort or concentration on his part. She marveled in the swishing cards for a few seconds before regaining her senses.

The guy definitely had a presence and knew how to make an entrance, she'd give him that, but she refused to be intimated. Especially by some card hustling, creepy eyed mutant. He definitely looked the part of a traitorous mercenary working for the government. Where Northstar failed the first impressions test, this guy passed it with flying colours.

She straightened her shoulders and stood tall and defiant. She was hardly a delicate southern flower and refused to be bullied. Just to prove that the guy had no power over her what-so-ever, she walked right up to the interloper and stood mere inches away. She heard a fearful squeak escape Northstar as she openly challenged the new mutant, who she suspected was Gambit.

"You Gambit?" she asked, eyeing him up much like she imagined Logan would as she cocked a hand on her hip.

The devilish smirk that played across his handsome face widened into a smile. "Depends on who's asking."

"I am," she replied sternly.

He licked his lips playfully. "And who are you exactly?"

"Rogue," she replied without a hint of hesitance.

"Could've sworn you were gonna be un homme."

_That_ threw her off.

"_Excuse me?_" she asked hotly.

"You're the new recruit, non?"

"Yeah."

"I'm just saying," he replied with his eyes twinkling mischievously, "I thought you'd be a man."

"Well," Rogue huffed indignantly. "As you can plainly see, I'm _not_."

"I can definitely see that," he answered in a smary sort of way as he leered at her breasts.

Shocked and appalled by such an open display of ogling, Rogue promptly folded her arms angrily across her chest, causing his eyes to shift upwards and back to hers.

"So," she continued forcing the conversation back in her court and regaining her composure. "Are you Gambit?"

"The one and only."

"Good," Rogue answered briskly.

Gambit raised his eyebrows with a mixture of amusement and intrigue. "I can tell I'm going to like you," he purred seductively, stepping closer.

It took every ounce of willpower for Rogue not to step back and to continue standing her ground. "I'm taking this room," she stated, hating that her voice wavered just ever so slightly.

He laughed as though she was joking. "I'm afraid you are mistaken, ma cherie. That is the finest room in the house and coincidently my room. I refuse to give it up to a new recruit—even to la beauté remarquable new recruit."

Rogue glowered and opened her mouth to give him a scathing remark, but Gambit continued speaking, "However, I am more than willing to share my bed with you. I can easily comply with that arrangement."

Rogue stared at him in disbelief. Never had she so casually or so openly been propositioned and she was unsure whether she should be flattered or offended. The guy had balls. He really did, but _share a bed with him?_ Not in this lifetime.

He was obviously the top dog around here and his word was law. Northstar's groveling had more than proved that. Perhaps it was a bit threatening and counterproductive of her to come in here on day one and expect to take over and overthrow leadership. As pleasant and light-hearted as Gambit appeared now, it didn't imply that he always carried such a disposition. There was something cruel and primal behind his cocky smiles and wayward eyes and it was that something that Northstar feared so openly. Rogue took the hint and decided it was in her best interest to ere on caution and back down, at least for today.

She opted to try for a counter offer instead. That way she'd be backing down, but not being entirely submissive to him.

"I refuse to sleep in this room," she replied angrily, pointing to the small abomination of a bedroom.

"I've already offered you the best spot in the house," Gambit replied slightly irritated. "I've offered to share my bed with you. Don't assume I make that offer to just anyone."

"I don't find that an acceptable option either," she snapped back hotly, without thinking.

The look on Gambit's face darkened a bit and Rogue catching the subtle change in his facial expression, quickly changed tactics.

"At least not yet, anyway," she added, smiling coyly.

It was an underhanded move, implying that she might be interested in him, but right now playing into the leader of the pack's ego might earn her a spot privy to more information about what went on here. She was undercover and she did have a job to do. She would use the skills she had at hand to do so, even if it meant batting her eyelashes and flipping her hair.

It seemed to be working and Gambit's mood lightened considerably.

"You can have Jean-Paul's room. He'll trade," Gambit answered pleasantly.

"Who?" Rogue asked, a little uncertain.

"Me," Northstar answered meekly. "You can have my room."

"But—" Rogue started to protest and then quickly changed her tune.

Gambit cocked his head wickedly to the side, suddenly interested in what she might say. She'd almost forgotten that she wasn't supposed to give a damn about anyone but herself.

"But what?" Gambit queried, staring intently at her face as though he was waiting for her to slip up somehow.

"But I haven't seen what that room looks like," Rogue lied on the spot. "For all I know it's merely a step up from this one." She motioned in distaste to the dirty, little room.

Gambit laughed again. Rogue relaxed her posture. He'd believed her lie and once again found her amusing. For the time being, crisis seemed to be averted.

"You'll like it, cherie." He smiled smugly. "I guarantee."

There was something in his voice, like a catch twenty-two, that had her stiffening and staring suspiciously at him.

She dared herself to ask, "How do you know I will?"

There was that smile again. She was sure he was mentally undressing her right now and she didn't like it.

"Because," he began as he abruptly turned away from her and sauntered off down the hall. "It's the room right next to mine…with the adjoining bathroom."

Rogue stared speechless, watching Gambit's tall frame disappear around the corner. She had managed to tentatively secure a place in Gambit's good books for now, but at what cost? He had made sure that she created tensions with someone in their little group right off the bat and unfortunately it was with the already destitute-looking Northstar. The person she thought might actually befriend her.

The least she could do was let down her nasty persona and apologize to him. She never meant to take his room. She turned apologetically to Northstar, completely at a loss for words when she realized he was already moving his stuff from his room.

"Look," Rogue began, now feeling just awful. "You really don't need to move."

"Yes, I do," he answered blandly.

"No, really, you don't," Rogue pressed. "I'll take the other room. It's fine. I'll pick up some cleaning supplies—"

Northstar sighed. "You don't understand. I have to move now. If I don't, he'll_ make _me. And I _really_ don't want that."

Rogue could hardly believe her ears, but then she shouldn't really be surprised. Logan had warned her about the type of mutant it took to abandon his own kind and work for the government. Still, it seemed needlessly cruel and petty to pick on someone who was so timid and passive.

"Really?" she asked, wondering how someone as unnaturally pretty as Gambit could be so wicked inside.

Northstar only nodded.

"Wow," Rogue breathed. "That guy is a first class _prick_."

For the first time, Northstar cracked a smile and Rogue felt at ease.

"You have no idea, but soon you'll be sharing a bathroom with him, so that'll probably give you some semblance," Northstar replied wryly.

"Who would I have been sharing a bathroom with otherwise?" she asked curiously. It would be good to meet the rest of the mercs and assess them as soon as possible.

Northstar pointed to a not-so-clean bathroom a few feet away. "You'd be sharing with everyone else."

"How'd you get the adjoining room in the first place?" she asked, trying to figure out how he had managed to secure one of the nicer rooms being of the temperament that he was.

"I was here first."

"I'm sorry," Rogue said again.

Northstar shrugged. "I deserve this one anyway," he answered, dropping a pile of clothes on the dirty floor of his new room.

The tone of his voice implied that she shouldn't inquire after the comment.

"Need some help?" she asked feeling awkward just standing there and watching the man move his things.

"Yeah, okay," he answered hesitantly and handed her a box. "You're not like the others, you know."

Rogue paused with the box in her hand. "I still believe in manners," she replied carefully. "Even if I like a hefty paycheck and don't give a damn about this world."

Northstar gave a slight nod. "You can call me Jean-Paul." He shifted his handful of possessions to hold his hand out to her.

"Just Rogue," she replied taking his hand and shaking it firmly.

"God," he sighed almost thankfully. "I'm glad you're not a bitch like Andrea."

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><p><strong>Translations:<strong> "un homme" – "a man", "la beauté remarquable" – "the remarkable beauty"


	3. Chapter 3

Andrea, Rogue soon found out, was a bitch in every sense of the word. And true to Jean-Paul's sentiments, she too was glad she was nothing like her. The woman had the coldest blue eyes Rogue had ever seen. Well, the second pair of coldest blue eyes—Andrea's twin brother, Andreas shared that trait as well. It was Rogue's extreme displeasure to meet the two shortly after she'd helped Jean-Paul move his things and unpack most of hers.

It was while Jean-Paul gave her a tour of the rest of the base that Rogue met the von Strucker twins.

The contempt on Jean-Paul's face for the twins showed visibly, but Rogue couldn't detect fear in him as she had when Gambit was around. As intimidating as the twins were, Rogue quickly realized that they were small fish in the pond of baddies. Sick, small fish, but small fish nonetheless.

Their mutation had a flaw.

Jean-Paul leaned over and whispered in her ear, "The neo-Natzi freaks are completely useless when they're not holding hands." He actually snickered. "It's a common trait for mutant twins to be able to increase their power by contact, but the von Strucker twins don't have _any_ mutation without touching."

Rogue almost laughed. The twins seemed to go out of their way to impose their offensive manner and cruelty, and then to do any real damage _they had to hold hands?_ It definitely left something wanting in their image.

She didn't like the way Andreas leered at her when she walked into the room. There was something distinctly more perverse about it than when Gambit had done it. She sure didn't like the look she received from Andrea. It was positively scathing. The woman looked like she wanted to skin Rogue alive.

The hostility was completely unwarranted. Rogue had never met this woman before in her life, and such open aggression for no reason irked the hell out of her. Obviously there wasn't going to be any gushy girl bonding here.

Andrea couldn't seem to breathe the same air Rogue did. Shortly after their meeting, she complained to her brother that the 'white streaked bitch was making her simply nauseous' and the two left with their noses in the air.

"What the hell was that all about?" Rogue asked Jean-Paul when the two were safely out of earshot.

"I suspect Gambit must've said something about you," Jean-Paul mused.

Rogue was appalled. "He's trashing my name already? I haven't even done anything to him!"

Jean-Paul suddenly laughed. "I think he was probably singing praises to your physical attributes and Andrea doesn't like it."

"Oh," Rogue replied with a newfound understanding. "I didn't realize she and Gambit were—"

"They're not," Jean-Paul answered. "At least not anymore. Rumour had it, Gambit hooked up with her awhile back, much to Andreas's disapproval."

"_Why?_" Rogue asked aloud. She couldn't see what anyone would see in Andrea von Strucker other than bitch with a capital B.

Jean-Paul laughed again, warming up to her. "Who knows, but with Gambit, I'm willing to bet that it had little to with attraction and a lot more to do with something else he was trying to get his hands on."

Rogue didn't follow and Jean-Paul explained, "He's a thief, it's his primary skill."

"He used _sex_ to steal something?" Rogue was floored. She'd never met someone so unscrupulous in her life and she'd hung out in the Brotherhood of Mutants for a while. She couldn't imagine ever doing something so… so vile.

"He uses _everything_ to steal something. I don't think he has any boundaries or morals. When he wants something—he gets it." Jean-Paul's voice took on a warning. "With any means necessary."

Chills ran up her spine. Gambit was capable of _anything_. That opened a huge margin of possibilities. Now she understood why Jean-Paul was terrified of the man. Someone like that deserved to be feared.

"I'm not scared of him," Rogue answered defiantly.

"You should be," Jean-Paul stated seriously. "He showed interest in you."

Rogue scoffed, surely Jean-Paul wasn't implying that Gambit would take her against her will, and if he did try, her mutation would be quite handy then.

"He came from the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, you know. Escaped, if you can even believe that. No one is supposed to be able to do that," Jean-Paul whispered hoarsely.

Rogue shuddered. Logan had had run ins with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. If she remembered correctly, Logan had actually worked for them at some point in time. She was fully aware of the kind of criminal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents apphrended.

"I'm not worried," Rogue proclaimed, forcing the chills away. "He can't touch me unless I want him to."

It was Jean-Paul's turn to look confused.

"My mutation," she answered vaguely. "It makes me untouchable at times."

"At times?" Jean-Paul asked.

"When I'm not concentrating on control," she answered cheerfully.

"That sounds… _useful?_" Jean-Paul answered as though he was searching for a different word, but couldn't find it.

She smiled. He didn't know the half of it.

"It is."

Having never attracted any serious interest from a man before, Rogue wrote off Jean-Paul's ominous warnings. She'd successfully managed to scare off many potential amorous wannabes, having no interest in relationships of any kind whatsoever.

She hadn't had what she would refer to as 'normal teen years'. A girl with her mutation couldn't really, so she'd learned quickly what a waste of time crushes and boyfriends were. It also made it easier not to pine for something she couldn't have if she didn't bother trying to experience it. No point in pursuing something she couldn't have safely.

That was the problem, sucking out people's souls wasn't something she enjoyed doing or that other people enjoyed having done. Needless to say, she didn't date much. Okay, she didn't date at all, but that was fine by her. Even when she hit adulthood and found that with intense concentration she could control her mutation, she still avoided dating. When she got nervous or overly excited it was harder to maintain control over her power, making any sort of romantic, physical contact near impossible anyway.

She had the utmost confidence that if Gambit had any sort of physical intentions regarding her, she could dissuade him of that easily. She often employed a callous and abrasive attitude towards anyone who showed romantic interest in her, and in short, turned off even the most ardent pursuers.

It was a talent that had often amused Logan and marveled Kitty.

Jean-Paul gave a slight shrug and interrupted her thoughts. "I guess this concludes the tour, and with not much time to spare. Our first meeting starts in a few minutes. I'll introduce you to the rest of the team there."

Rogue followed Jean-Paul down the narrow hallway to a common room filled with an odd assortment of chairs.

The collection of mutants that filed into the room was unbelievably mismatched, but all had one thing in common. They all looked untrustworthy and traitorous. Rogue was grateful to have formed an alliance with Northstar, who seemed to have been with MRD the longest, although Rogue gathered by now from his behaviour that it wasn't exactly by choice. Northstar knew something about each one of her new coworkers, and took the liberty of whispering little tidbits in her ear after he'd made her brief introduction.

"That's Fabian Cortez." Northstar pointed indiscreetly at a hard looking man with hair that borderlined on orange and a pencil thin mustache. "He's an extremist. Hardcore on the anti-human scene."

"What's he working with MRD for then?" Rogue asked.

"Revenge. He used to be one of Magneto's right hands until they had a falling out. He joined out of that old 'common enemy' adage. As long as Magneto goes down, Cortez doesn't care who gets hurt."

"What's his mutation?"

"He amplifies mutations of the mutants surrounding him. Consider him your battery when you're feeling worn out."

Northstar moved on, shifting his attention to the von Strucker twins.

"You've already had the pleasure of meeting those two. They go by the name Fenris on the field, though."

"Why are they here?" Rogue asked.

"Enjoyment. Both Andrea and Andreas are shrewd businessmen and have been contributing financial backing to the MRD which in turn, grants them access to the labs and experiments. Their merc work is like a freakshow hobby. Both get off on sadism and torture."

Rogue wrinkled her nose and Northstar nodded in agreement.

"Over there is Longshot."

Rogue followed Northstar's eyes to what would have been the prettiest man she'd ever seen except for his horrific haircut. His blonde hair was the colour of wheat right before harvest and styled in a mullet. An honest to God mullet.

"And what does he do?"

"The real question is what doesn't he do? He's not even a mutant in the classic sense. He's been genetically altered and on loan from the Mojoverse. You heard of it?"

"Yeah, some friends of mine made the mistake of garnering Mojo's attention," Rogue answered vaguely. In actual fact, it had been Logan and her brother Kurt, along with his 'sort of' love interest Wanda. Everyone had made it out of the ordeal okay and the insane dictator, Mojo, of the parallel dimension, had left the X-men alone after that.

"Well, Longshot's from there. Hired out on contract." Northstar continued, "Apparently he has two hearts and check out the digits."

Rogue snuck a peek at Longshot's fingers, almost ashamed that she was superficial enough to be grossed out by his lack of fingers. Instead of four fingers on each hand, Longshot had three.

"Then there's Gambit," Northstar replied quietly, even though Gambit had yet to arrive. "He's our commanding officer, if you hadn't figured it out. He tells you to do something, for God's sake, do it."

Rogue decided that she really didn't want to do anything Gambit asked of her when he finally entered the room and sat down. He sat in an old upholstered chair; the antique kind—small with wooden legs. He looked every bit as dangerous and commanding as the leader of the mercenaries should. A shiver raced down her spine. No, she definitely did not want to cross him.

Andrea had promptly pulled up her chair and sat down beside Gambit, actually running her perfectly lacquered red nails across his chest. Rogue felt her lip curl in disgust. She'd never throw herself all over someone as shamelessly as Andrea did, especially someone who looked as bored as Gambit did by the attention.

When Rogue went to sit down with Jean-Paul, Gambit straightened up immediately and the acute boredom on his face was replaced with great interest. Unnerved by his eyes, she ignored him and sat quickly with Jean-Paul. Gambit's gaze followed her and left her uneasy. She had the distinct feeling that he was a starving wolf and she was the lamb dinner.

"There's a spot here, cherie," Gambit invited her with an enticing purr before turning to Andrea and ordering her with a single word, "Move."

Andrea, completely put out, pulled away from him and crossed her arms like a pouty small child.

"Now," he commanded in a cold, dangerous voice that had even Rogue shivering.

In the quickest of instances and with an eerie amount of strength, he gripped a wooden chair leg and actually tipped the chair Andrea sat on, dumping Andrea from the seat and onto the floor. She landed with a sharp thud and cast a scowl in Rogue's direction, rather than Gambit's, before scurrying to the safety of her brother.

Rogue had to keep the shock from displaying all over her face. She'd never seen anyone treat someone the way Gambit just had. Like hell, he'd be dumping her from a chair anytime soon.

"Thanks, but I'm good here," Rogue answered a little defiantly as she deliberately remained seated.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at her. The silence was unnerving. Rogue immediately guessed that Gambit's requests, no matter how trivial, were never refused. She dared to meet Gambit's eyes. He did not look happy. Abruptly he stood up and in a few short steps, towered over her and a now cowering, Jean-Paul.

"Get up," he instructed to Jean-Paul, who immediately jumped from his seat and scooted to the one Gambit had left empty. Rogue could only sit and gape, her anger not registering as quickly as Jean-Paul could move.

Gambit dropped languidly into the chair that had been formerly occupied by Jean-Paul as if he hadn't done a thing. Rogue was appalled. She found her anger when she felt his arm drape casually around her shoulder.

"I suggest you remove that," she spoke in a low, dangerous voice.

A wicked grin spread across his face. "Why?" he challenged.

"Because," she started, choosing her words carefully, "you haven't gotten my permission. It's very rude and unbecoming."

Curiosity danced across his eyes as if he were trying to figure out if she was for real appealing to his sense of propriety.

His arm remained where it was. Rogue was fully aware that she had just started a pissing match. The room remained silent; the mutants watched in quiet amusement, fear or awe. If Gambit backed down, he'd be admitting that she held some sort of power over him. She doubted that he would back down, but she refused to show weakness. Still, she couldn't afford to fight. She needed to stay on good terms with this man for her job's sake. Her life here would be miserable if she crossed him. She glanced at Jean-Paul, who silently pleaded with her to leave it alone.

She took a deep breath and let it go… until his fingers gently began stroking her arm suggestively. She leaned over to his ear, whispering so only he could hear, "Sug, you had better quit while you're ahead," she warned.

He smirked, the amusement playing across his face again as if to challenge her threat, but his fingers stopped their travels. He'd done it in such a way that implied he was bored of the action, rather than threatened by her.

Rogue remained completely still in her chair until she realized that she probably looked scared stiff. The evil look on Andrea's face confirmed it. She absolutely refused to let Andrea von Strucker think she was weak.

So, she did that last thing she wanted to do. The very thing she avoided doing at all costs.

She responded to his unwanted advances positively.

She relaxed under the weight of his arm and turned her body inwards towards his. It was subtle, but she saw Andrea's pleased look fall from her face. Rogue smirked at her. Andrea glared.

Rogue knew she should have been paying attention to her first official meeting with the MRD, but she was distracted by Andrea von Strucker. She knew the woman would prove to be troublesome and Rogue would have to be on her guard. In the short time she had been here, she'd smoothed things over with Northstar and had easily won Gambit's favour. Still, she had managed to cross paths with someone on her team and had made an enemy.

Andrea.

And where Andrea went, Andreas followed.


	4. Chapter 4

Jean-Paul tracked Rogue down after the meeting. The concern etched on his face was somewhat warming to Rogue. It seemed she had easily made a friend and confidante in Northstar.

"You made an enemy in Fenris," Jean-Paul quietly noted.

Rogue already knew that. It didn't matter what she did, someone in this group of mercenaries would make her life difficult. At least it wouldn't be Gambit…yet. "I thought you said the twins weren't that bad?"

"I didn't say they weren't cruel and vindictive. Or that they were notorious for holding grudges."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" She sighed. Gambit had left her very little choice. Given the circumstances, Rogue was happier to be in Gambit's good books than in Andrea's right now.

"The only thing you could do," Jean-Paul answered. "Get in good with Gambit."

"Which you already warned me about not doing," Rogue replied, rolling her eyes.

Jean-Paul gave her a haphazard shrug. "You'll never get along with everyone here, so it's best to make your connections wisely. Gambit, despite his apparent interest in you physically, is a wise connection."

"Are you a wise connection?" Rogue asked. It was true that Northstar appeared to be the group's weakest link, but looks could be deceiving.

Jean-Paul gave a bitter smile. "I've been working for the MRD the longest. I know more about anyone here than you could imagine."

"You never did tell me anything about yourself," Rogue commented. "You gave me something on everyone here but you."

"Not much to tell. I'm a speed and endurance mutant."

"How come you're here?"

"That's a long story, and one I'm not going to tell to someone I've just met."

Rogue shrugged. "Fair enough." She could understand the desire to reveal as little about one's self as possible. It was what she was doing herself. Northstar was different from the other mercs. His motivations for being here were a mystery, one she hoped in time she would find out.

"What did you say to Gambit when you whispered in his ear?" Jean-Paul asked curiously, promptly changing the subject and switching it back to the group meeting.

"Told him not to press his luck with all that petting," Rogue grumbled in reply, not wanting to discuss Gambit anymore than Jean-Paul wanted to discuss why he was with the MRD.

Jean-Paul laughed in delight. "I think you might be the only girl on the planet capable of resisting that guy's charm."

"Acting like he's God damned royalty is not charming," Rogue argued. "If I want a man's hands on me, he'll know."

Jean-Paul laughed harder and it made Rogue smile. Her new friend seemed to need a laugh. He probably hadn't ever cracked a smile in this place until she had arrived. She had to admit that she liked Jean-Paul. Since he'd taken a liking to her things at this place didn't seem so bad. At least until she had to betray him.

That was the problem with working as a double agent. Rogue couldn't help but form connections with people. She couldn't help but like certain people even though she was essentially deceiving them with who and what she really was. The same had happened when she had infiltrated the Brotherhood of Mutants not so long ago. Rogue had formed a bond with one of the members and her betrayal had hurt that mutant beyond repair.

Domino had been the first person Rogue had ever considered a friend. Sure she'd had Logan, but often she didn't count Logan. He was more like an overbearing, bossy older brother than a friend. It didn't mean she didn't love Logan like family, it just meant that Logan never got her the way Domino had. Domino had been great. She had accepted Rogue instantly and liked her company. It had never sat well with Rogue that the friendship had been built on lies. Rogue wasn't really with the Brotherhood because she believed their cause. She was there undercover as a saboteur and informant for the X-men, Logan's team.

It had hurt to end the friendship with Domino, especially since so many truths about herself had been mingled in with the lies. Domino had liked Rogue's truths, the things that made her uniquely her. Rogue had never been particularly good with people in general. She was never fully trusted by her real team, the X-men, not since she had played the part of the traitor so well.

She couldn't really blame them. Sometimes she didn't fully trust herself, let alone want to be friends with someone like her. A double agent. A girl who could lie through her teeth and not so much as blink an eye while doing it. No one in her real life could take anything she said at face value, knowing what she was and how good she was at it. It sometimes hurt to be exploited by a team that didn't trust her. Sometimes she even wondered if Logan ever really fully trusted her. She had become so good at blending in with the enemies that even her half brother, Kurt had warily distanced himself from her.

Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to stay with the X-men. They didn't trust her, so they kept their distance, making her life at Xavier's mansion lonely. But when she went undercover, she almost always found someone who enjoyed her company and wanted to be around her. Sometimes she wished she could just up and go somewhere new and create a whole new life for herself, rather than continue with one where her hated skills were adamantly used, but never fully appreciated.

"Well," Jean-Paul sighed. "I suppose we ought to get you ready for your first mission tonight."

Rogue hid her grimace well. She had nearly forgotten that she was here to work and that the MRD gave very little time for adjustment before sending its recruits out on missions. Gambit had given his instructions clearly. She would be paired with him tonight on a heist. Of course the rest of the mutants had their own tasks to attend to, but Rogue was automatically placed with Gambit. She was unsure whether it was his own doing or the MRD's.

"Do you think he paired me with himself on purpose?" Rogue found herself asking Northstar.

Jean-Paul raised his eyebrows. "Undoubtedly. Gambit wants you. He made it crystal clear at the meeting that he called dibs. No other guy on the team will dare go near you now, unless instructed by him."

Rogue became concerned. If that was true, Jean-Paul was putting himself at risk. She already knew he feared Gambit above anyone else, so why was he standing here talking to her, alone, when the others like Andreas and Longshot wouldn't dare?

"What about you? I thought you were terrified of Gambit?" Rogue asked with worry. She did not want her new friend being pummeled just for being seen with her.

Jean-Paul's hearty, unexpected laughter startled her. "Sweetie, I'm as gay as a May pole. I'm the least threatening guy here to a guy like Gambit."

"Oh," Rogue answered a little stupidly. That definitely explained why Northstar was so at ease being around her, even going so far as to find her after the meeting when everyone else vanished from her sight in minutes. He wasn't at risk for Gambit's wraith. At least there was something about Gambit that didn't frighten Jean-Paul.

"Another plus, I'll most likely be paired with you if Gambit or Andrea aren't." Jean-Paul grinned again. "You showing up and being a girl has helped me out more than you can imagine."

Rogue laughed despite herself. If she could work with Northstar most of the time, she'd have a lot less to worry about. She certainly wasn't thrilled about being paired with Andrea or Gambit, but at least she had the possibility of working with Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul grabbed her by the arm. "Come on, let's get you suited up. We've wasted enough time."

Half an hour later, Rogue was fitted into her new uniform. It was a muted black, perfect for blending into the night. The form fitting suit covered her from head to toe like a second skin. She carefully fitted a pair of black gloves over her hands and laced up her knee high boots.

Northstar handed her a matte black utility belt, pointing out its various features and functions. "Don't forget your grappling hook," he said, grabbing her last piece of equipment. He helped her secure it to her belt. He stepped back to admire his work. "You look ready to me."

"I'd agree," Gambit commented from the doorway.

Rogue turned to see their commanding officer. Gambit matched her, dressed in a black turtle neck sweater and black cargo pants. He wore a long black trench coat over his ensemble. Rogue wondered if she got a jacket as well.

"Time to sync our watches," Gambit said, making it sound like a command.

Rogue nodded and did as she was told. Her stomach fluttered with unwanted butterflies, a strange feeling for her. It wasn't like she had never gone a mission for the bad guys before. She couldn't understand why this mission had her so nervous. She refused to believe that it had anything to do with being alone with Gambit. She could handle whatever he threw at her.

No matter how many times she kept telling herself that, deep down she didn't quite believe it.

"Let's go," Gambit instructed, turning from the doorway.

He was already halfway down the hall before Rogue could blink an eye. She cast Jean-Paul a nervous glance. He gave her a thumbs up. She gave a faint smile and followed after Gambit.

To Rogue's surprise, Gambit was a very serious man while on a mission. She had half expected him to continue on with his unsavory advances. Instead, he briefed her on the mission without any hint of attraction to her. It was almost as if he'd switched places with someone else.

"It's a B&E," he revealed. "Nothing too tricky for your first run with us."

"I can handle that," she replied confidently.

"We'll see when we get there," he answered with a cryptic tone.

They were coming up on the place fast and Rogue recognized her surroundings quickly. That feeling of butterflies in her stomach had now turned to buzzing hornets instead. She just knew she wasn't going to like where this was going. She did her best to hide her worry. Gambit glanced over in her direction. He said nothing, but Rogue was sure he was trying to read her reaction.

It was imperative that she remain calm and act nonchalant. She could not give away her position now, not so early in the game and certainly not to the mercenary leader. Gambit pulled their car up to a stop outside the gate near the bushes.

"Where are we?" Rogue asked, knowing full well exactly where they were, and wondering all the while if Gambit knew she knew.

He pulled the keys from the ignition and turned those menacing eyes in her direction. "You really don't know?"

"No," she lied, giving a bored yawn for extra measure.

Gambit studied her face before answering, "Ever hear of the X-men?"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Who hasn't?"

"Well, this is their base."

"Really?" Rogue asked with feigned interest.

He seemed to be buying her act. On the outside she appeared to care less about the mansion or the X-men. On the inside she was panicking. What the hell were they stealing… and if they got caught, which they most likely would, would her team feign ignorance to knowing her? God, she hoped so. Logan and the rest of her team were counting on her to infiltrate the MRD. She could not let them down. She only hoped they wouldn't let her down.

Gambit fished some documents out of a manila envelope and handed them to her. She recognized the schematics to Forge's lab instantly, having been there many times already. Forge was one of the few X-men who seemed to act normal around her and actually seemed to enjoy her company.

She flipped through the papers, finding a grainy photo of one of Forge's more recent inventions. Rogue knew Forge's latest prototype for a personal electronic stealth unit was currently useless. As great as an idea as it was, it seemed to be Forge's pipe dream. It never worked. Rogue had spent many hours watching Forge tinker away on the damn thing. How the MRD had managed to find out what he'd been working on and have photographs was beyond her. She did however know that she couldn't let the MRD get their hands on the prototype. That made her first mission with the MRD tricky. How was she supposed to botch her first job? She could not screw up in front of Gambit. She had to prove her worth. If she could pull this off, she'd be a smidge closer to gaining status among the mercs.

"That," Gambit said, tapping the photo in Rogue's hands, "is what we're after. The MRD wants the machine fully intact. We use any means necessary to get it."

Rogue swallowed hard and nodded. "Looks easy enough to get to."

"Perhaps," he answered, opening the car door. "Let's find out what you can do."


	5. Chapter 5

Rogue followed Gambit across the mansion's grounds, keeping close to the shadows. She just knew this wasn't going to go well. Having been brought to the X-mansion on her first mission with the MRD made her paranoid and suspicious. Did they know she was really an X-man or was this just a coincidence? She had to keep her cool. If she looked freaked, Gambit would become suspicious...if he wasn't already.

It disturbed her just how quickly Gambit got them inside. Watching him work made her believe wholeheartedly what Northstar had said about him escaping the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. It scared her. How many times had this guy been in the mansion without them knowing? She didn't doubt that Gambit was the reason the MRD had photographic evidence of what Forge worked on. A shiver went down her spine. Had she been fast asleep while Gambit prowled their halls? She couldn't shake the feeling of somehow being violated.

They made it to Forge's lab in record time. Clearly Gambit was more than just a little familiar with the mansion schematics. Rogue felt sick. It only confirmed her thoughts.

"Been here a lot?" she asked as Gambit headed straight for Forge's workbench. God, he even knew his way around the lab in the dark with only a tiny flashlight to light his way.

"Why do you ask?" he replied.

"You seem awfully familiar with your surroundings."

He shrugged. "Been here enough to know my way around."

No kidding. Rogue watched as he swiftly pulled Forge's hidden vault key from its hiding place. In a few short strides, he was at the vault and unlocking it.

Rogue's mind raced as she tried to come up with ways to keep Gambit from getting the prototype. Panic started to etch her thoughts when she couldn't seem to come up with any viable way to keep her cover as well as securing the prototype's safety.

Thankfully, one of her problems was solved with the flick of a light switch and the sharp swish of Logan's claws.

"You again?" Logan growled from the doorway.

At first Rogue thought he was addressing her. She quickly realized that he hadn't even glanced her way and was actually speaking to Gambit. It made sense. Logan wasn't supposed to recognize her. If he did, her mission would be over, not to mention a complete failure.

Gambit turned from the vault and gave a slow, greasy smile. He motioned to Logan. "Rogue, would you mind taking care of this? I'm a little busy right now."

Rogue's heart sunk. Fighting Logan was not something she particularly enjoyed doing on the best of days. Fighting Logan while pretending to be the enemy was definitely in her top three of things she didn't want to do ever. She knew all too well the importance of her cover as an MRD agent, as did Logan. It meant that Logan would fight her for real.

"Oh hell," she muttered miserably to herself as she prepared to face Logan.

She was right. Logan wouldn't risk exposing her by going soft on her in a fight. At least on the plus side, if she got hurt badly enough she could always borrow Logan's mutation to heal. She didn't doubt for a moment that Logan was thinking the same thing. It would definitely make the fight more convincing, knowing he didn't have to hold back. Worrying about her safety wasn't an issue, but Rogue was none too thrilled about getting injured. Pain was still pain regardless of whether or not she could heal fast.

She dodged Logan's first lunge with little effort. She'd always been a quick fighter, preferring speed to strength. She used speed mainly because with just her mutation and no one else's, she was somewhat vulnerable in fight, unless given the opportunity to make skin on skin contact. She jumped out of Logan's path again when he came at her from a different angle. She'd have to get close to Logan to make it a fair fight and Logan knew that. It was why he was lunging with his claws first.

Logan's main priority was to keep them from getting a hold of Forge's prototype. All he had to do was fight like he normally would. It was actually easy for him. Rogue, on the other hand, had a difficult task ahead of her. She had to keep the prototype here when she was supposed to be taking it, and she had to win in her fight with Logan to prove she could handle her first mission. Needless to say, the task was a bit daunting. Gambit proved to be very little help since he was busy with the vault. It left Rogue with yet another task: covering Gambit.

Rogue had no choice but to try and catch some skin on Logan. She just had to get close enough to do it. The next time Logan came at her, she jumped towards him. He caught her in mid air by the back of his claws, neatly knocking her backwards and onto the ground. She hit the concrete floor with a hard thump. Shrugging off the dull pain from the fall, she got back up and went for Logan again. Within seconds she was back on the floor.

Wincing, she climbed to her feet a second time. This fight was not going in her favour. She wished Gambit would hurry the hell up so they could just get out of here already. Rogue squared her shoulders, preparing to attack Logan one more time. This time when he charged towards her, she ducked down, hoping to sweep him off his feet. If he went down, she'd have the chance she was looking for.

Logan anticipated her move, knowing her too well, and countered it. Again, he caught her and knocked her to the ground roughly. This time, he didn't give her a chance to get back up. Logan was done playing games. Rogue braced herself for the attack. Claws blazing, Logan attacked. Rogue inhaled sharply, awaiting the adamantium claws to hit their mark. She shut her eyes tightly. This was going to hurt like a bitch.

The blow never came. Instead, Rogue heard the grating sound of metal scraping against metal. Her eyes flew open in shock. Gambit stood in front her, holding Logan off with a long, metal staff.

"Grab the prototype and get outta here!" Gambit growled at her.

Rogue scrambled away from the two men and went for the prototype. She was shocked that Gambit would abandon it for her sake. She had expected him to leave her once he'd gotten his hands on it. That was their mission. Get the prototype with any means necessary.

As Rogue neared the prototype, an idea hit her. She knew how to get the prototype out of here without compromising its secrets. After spending hours with Forge in his lab, Rogue had seen him take the machine apart more times than she could count. She was positive she could do the same. As long as Gambit and Logan were occupied in their fight, Gambit wouldn't notice her pulling pieces out of the prototype. It was small enough that she was sure she could do it as stealthily as possible. Meant as an attachment for a belt, the prototype was still a bit big and awkward for its original purpose, but to sabotage quickly, it was the perfect size.

Rogue was banking on Logan to keep up with a vicious fight as she grabbed the prototype. As quickly as she could, she pulled the prototype and twisted it from the center like she'd seen Forge do. The prototype came apart in two pieces and Rogue wasted no time pulling various wires and components from the inside. Not wanting the machine to look like it was sabotaged, she shoved wires back in various places where they looked like they might connect. Satisfied with her work, she screwed the two pieces back together. As a final measure, she shoved the pieces she'd removed from the prototype underneath a nearby table.

The sound of metal hitting the ground and rolling caught her attention. Gambit had lost his staff and it rolled towards her. It stopped when it hit her foot. She looked up at the two men fighting in time to see Logan swipe his claws across Gambit's chest. The claws connected with flesh as Rogue watched Logan pull his hand up in completion. Crimson dripped from the adamantium and Gambit crumpled to the ground. Rogue gasped out loud. It was always disturbing seeing Logan at his most vicious. She understood the importance of keeping the prototype secure, but at the same time, she wondered whether it was necessary to take it as far as Logan did.

Gambit was clutching his injured chest and unable to continue the fight. They were done here. There was no point continuing, Rogue had to think of a way to get herself and Gambit out of here while still saving face. She dimly wondered if Gambit expected her to continue the fight.

She never found out because Logan attacked again. Gambit was already down, yet Logan went for him again. Rogue screamed when the Logan's boot came in contact with Gambit's face. Gambit lay on the ground in a pool of blood. He wasn't moving.

"Oh my God!" Rogue screeched, rushing towards them. "What did you do?"

Logan was wiping the blood off his hands and claws. "He's only unconscious. He'll be fine."

"You didn't need to take it that far!" Rogue found herself shrieking at Logan in disbelief. "I had it handled!"

Logan scoffed. "From the looks of things, you didn't have it handled at all."

Rogue balled her hands angrily into fists. Logan always thought he knew what was best. "I sabotaged the prototype! We were going to be bringing back a useless hunk of plastic! Gawd, Logan!"

"How was I supposed to know that?" Logan snarled back fiercely.

"You're supposed to trust me to do my job!" Rogue threw her hands up in disgust. "Can you at least help me drag him back to the car?"

If Logan was apologetic, he didn't look it or say it. It pissed Rogue off even more. Logan would never admit he was wrong, and if he did, it was a very rare occasion. Only once had she ever received an official apology from Logan. She wasn't expecting one now. As far as Logan was concerned, he'd handled the situation the best and nothing Rogue could have done or said would change that opinion. God, he was so stubborn sometimes! It was scenarios like this that had Rogue severely questioning Charles Xavier's decision to put Logan in charge of the team.

Logan didn't know when to quit. If he didn't learn to rein it in, soon he'd be no better than one of the bad guys and kill without remorse. How far would Logan have gone if she wasn't here? Would Gambit be dead right now? Rogue didn't know. She felt sick and ashamed. She knew Gambit was batting for the MRD, but did that really mean he deserved to die? She didn't think so, and with everything Charles Xavier had taught her in her time at his school, she didn't think he'd agree with Logan's actions either.

To her surprise, Logan picked Gambit up off the floor. He flung him carelessly over his shoulder. Rogue winced in sympathy for Gambit. If he wasn't unconscious, Logan's rough treatment would be horribly uncomfortable with the injuries he sustained.

"Where are you parked?" Logan asked, clearly annoyed.

Rogue grabbed the destroyed prototype and led the way.

Logan didn't stick around to help her load Gambit into the car. She told herself it was because he didn't want to be around in case Gambit regained consciousness. Deep down she knew it was because Logan didn't agree with her. He was mad and he was being childish because of it. Rogue rolled her eyes in disgust. When she got the chance to see Logan again, they weren't finished with this.

By the time she got Gambit poorly bandaged up and into the passenger seat, he was beginning to stir and regain consciousness. He moaned in pain as Rogue started up the car and began to drive back to their base. It was the longest drive of her life. She wasn't sure just how well Gambit was doing. She'd glance in his direction every so often and he did not look good. He was incredibly pale and she was quite sure he was feverish. God only knew how much blood he'd lost thanks to Logan. For all she knew, he probably had a concussion too.

If she thought for even a second that the hospital would be a safe place to take him, she would have. Unfortunately his injuries left too many questions. Questions that easily implied that they were mutants and had in fact been in a fight. Perhaps because they worked for the MRD they'd be spared the interrogations, except neither had any proof on them that they actually worked for the MRD.

Having no other choice, she brought Gambit back to their base in hopes that one of the mercenaries had some medical skills or could at least contact the MRD agents for help. She pulled up to the front door of the building and parked the car.

Gambit was awake and trying to get out of the car by himself.

"Just wait," Rogue said as she quickly undid her seat belt. She opened her door. "Let me help you."

She ran around to his side of the car and opened the door. She leaned down so Gambit could drape his arm around her shoulder for support.

"Can you walk?" she asked, concerned.

He gave her a faint smile as he pulled himself up, leaning heavily on her. "Oui, just not very well it would seem."

Rogue slowly helped him up the stairs and through the door. As soon as they were inside, she called out for help. "Hello? Anyone? I could use some help here!"

She didn't expect anyone in the house to respond after her first call, but within seconds, Northstar had appeared.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed, taking one look at her and Gambit. "Longshot! You'd better get in here, Gambit's injured."

It took longer for Longshot to appear in the front hall.

"Oh, hell." Longshot tsked, taking in the scene. "He's dripping blood everywhere. We'd better get him on the kitchen table."

Northstar and Longshot took Gambit from her and Rogue followed them into the kitchen. The two men put Gambit down on the table. Exhausted, Gambit lay flat on the table, breathing hard. Longshot wasted no time grabbing a kitchen knife and soon he was cutting open Gambit's shirt to look at the wound.

"Wolverine again?" he asked.

"What gave it away?" Gambit rasped drolly.

Longshot ignored his snide remark and directed his attention to Rogue. "Please tell me you didn't just bring this sorry sack of shit home."

Rogue folded her arms across her chest, offended. "I got the prototype if that's what you're asking. It's still in the trunk of the car."

Longshot looked relieved. "Northstar?"

"On it," Northstar answered. He grabbed the car keys and left.

Longshot turned his attention back to Gambit. "You're getting slow, he got you pretty deep this time."

"I'll live," Gambit mumbled.

"You'll need a few stitches."

"Check and see if he's got a concussion," Rogue offered up helpfully. "He got kicked in the head hard enough to knock him out."

Longshot raised his eyebrows as though he'd forgotten she was even there. "How come you're fine?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was able to touch Wolverine," Rogue answered automatically.

"So?" Longshot replied, obviously unaware of what she did.

"So she used her mutation," Gambit answered annoyed. "She can knock people out by touch alone. Don't you follow up on anything? I imagine because we're back here with the prototype, I'm not the only one who was knocked unconscious." He turned his head towards her. "Nice work, rookie."

Rogue gave a faint smile and shrugged. "It's what I do."

It wasn't long before Northstar returned with the prototype. He set it down on the counter behind Gambit.

Gambit turned his attention back to Longshot. "I'd say she passed with flying colours."

Rogue frowned as Longshot scowled. Had he not wanted her to succeed? She watched him in disdain as he shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills. He thrust them towards Gambit. Gambit took the bills. Rogue was appalled. They had bet on her!

"Trask will be here tomorrow to pick it up," Northstar spoke up quietly.

"Good," Gambit answered. "You're dismissed."

Northstar nodded and motioned for Rogue to follow him.


	6. Chapter 6

Back in her room, Rogue was ready to call it a night. Northstar lingered at her door.

"I'm surprised you didn't leave him there," Northstar commented, speaking of her mission with Gambit. "Anyone else here would have."

"No point in making any more enemies," Rogue replied. "X-men aren't killers. Gambit would have been back here in no time."

Northstar nodded. "Very shrewd."

"It's how I survive," she answered with a shrug.

"Can't argue that."

"Hey, what's the deal with Longshot?" she asked on a whim. He seemed to be taking command while they were in the kitchen. "I thought you said Gambit was in charge here?"

"Oh, he is. Longshot's the second-in-command. He takes over when Gambit is down," Northstar answered. "It doesn't happen very often, but I imagine Gambit will be out of action for at least a week."

Rogue wasn't sure she liked that. She had not formed any sort of repertoire with Longshot. She had instead focused her attention on staying on Gambit's good side and making an impression on him. If he was out of action for awhile, Rogue would have to weasel her way into Longshot's good books in order to stay on top of things. Being a lowly grunt was not an option for her. The sooner she exposed what the MRD was up to, the sooner she could get the hell out of this viper pit.

"Don't look so worried!" Northstar laughed. "Longshot is far easier to contend with than Gambit. This is actually a good thing."

Rogue wasn't convinced. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she had the sneaking feeling that Longshot was suspicious of her and didn't trust her in the least. She'd even go as far as to say he didn't like her. At least with Gambit, she felt she had made some sort of progress. If only because he thought she was hot. But she did complete her first mission, and she did bring him back to the base when anyone else would have left him. That had to count for something.

"Do you guys always leave each other behind when one falls?" she asked, remembering that instead of just taking off with the prototype, Gambit had stepped in and saved her from Logan's claws.

"Don't expect any mercy from anyone here," Northstar commented bitterly. "The only person you can rely on around here is yourself."

His tone implied that Northstar had been left behind many times to fend for himself.

Rogue smiled. "Well, I brought Gambit of all people back, so you know damn well I wouldn't be leaving you behind anywhere."

Northstar laughed, and looked much more at ease. "Thanks, Rogue." Northstar shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Well, I imagine you'd like to have a shower and get changed. It's been a pretty busy night for you. Get some sleep."

Rogue nodded silently as Northstar left, closing her door behind him. She had a lot on her mind and doubted very much that she'd get any sleep. First things first, she checked the lock on her bedroom door. It was a basic push button lock. Anyone could get in here if they tried. She fished through one of her bags and pulled out a small rubber door stop. It was a cheap, but effective way to keep someone from entering her room while she slept, or at least keeping them at bay long enough for her to wake up from the awful sound the rubber would make against the floor.

She looked over to her bathroom door in dismay. Through the adjoining bathroom was Gambit's room, and she only had one door stop. She almost wished she had just kept the tiny room that Northstar now lived in. It only had one door. Rogue debated whether there was any point in locking the bathroom door from her side. She had already seen just how quickly Gambit could break into a place if he wanted to. Truth be told, anyone could get in through that lock, provided they could get into Gambit's room first. Rogue cringed. He'd kept his door wide open when she had arrived.

She decided that she'd lock the bathroom door anyway, even if it was redundant to do so. Speaking of the bathroom, she figured she should get in there first and have a shower while Longshot was busy stitching Gambit up in the kitchen.

She didn't realize just how much of Gambit's blood was on her until she saw herself in the bathroom mirror after she'd removed her clothes. The black outfit had hid much, but underneath where the blood had soaked through was a different story. Her torso was rust coloured in dried blood. Seeing it only made her angry at Logan again.

She turned her back on her reflection and went towards the tub. She was amazed that it was actually clean when she pulled back the shower curtain. It appeared that Gambit didn't enjoy living in filth as much as the other mercs did. Or maybe while he was sharing a bathroom with Northstar, Northstar had kept it clean.

She turned on the taps and while she let the water heat up, she searched the cupboards for some clean towels. She found some black terrycloth towels neatly folded in the cupboard closest to the tub. She hoped Gambit wouldn't mind her using the towels. It wasn't like she had her own.

The water had heated up to a decent temperature, so she stepped into the tub and started the shower. Hot droplets of water rained down on her. She tipped her head upwards trying to wash away all her thoughts.

The water did well enough to get her body clean, but her mind remained full of the evening's events. She thought back to Gambit jumping in front of her and taking on Logan while she was down. She hadn't told Northstar about that at all. He had told her point blank that no one would look out for her here, yet Gambit had already done that. He didn't have to. He had the prototype. He could have just up and left, leaving her on her own, but he didn't.

His actions disagreed with everything she had been led to believe about these mutants. Everything Logan had told her. Come to think of it, Northstar hadn't fit Logan's description of a mutant MRD agent either. It wasn't the first time she had questioned Logan's authority, but this time she had a harder time brushing it off. Perhaps it was because she was ticked off with him right now.

Why couldn't the man just trust her? He was the one that kept putting her in these positions of espionage. Didn't he think that she could handle it? She knew her job better than anyone. She knew how important it was to collect data and information proving that the MRD wasn't looking out for the public's best interest. Exposing the MRD as an organization bent on stripping away citizen's rights was her main priority. Not everyone agreed with the harsh treatment of mutants, and not everyone knew the whole truth. To the public, the MRD was merely like a prison for dangerous mutants. Rogue could understand that, a normal prison wasn't equipped to handle most mutants, but then wasn't that what S.H.I.E.L.D. was for?

The MRD kept its seedy underbusiness a secret from the public. No one knew that the MRD apprehended any mutant they could get their hands on, whether they were guilty of crimes or not. Hell, as far the MRD was concerned, just being a mutant meant you were guilty of some crime. Mutants weren't just detained either, experiments were being done and machines were being built. The MRD was building a silent war against mutants and the public was none the wiser.

At first glance, it didn't make sense why the MRD would risk employing mutants in their ranks, but they did. Rogue knew it was used as a front to help deny any claims of mistreatment of mutants. What sort of an organization would employ mutants and at the same time be guilty of trying to eradicate them? It made for a hard truth to swallow and prove. The MRD had pretty much thought of everything to keep their tracks covered. Rogue knew better. So did the X-men. So did the mutants on Magneto's island, Genosha. It was why she was here. Out of all the X-men, her job was probably the most important right now.

If she failed her mission, the battle against the MRD would continue and the violence against mutants would increase. Soon, law abiding, peaceful mutants would have no choice to but to fight back and the MRD would win in its attempt to put every mutant under a dark light. Her job was to keep that from happening. She'd stay undercover here for as long as it took to complete her mission and expose the MRD for what it really was.

Rogue finished her shower and towelled off. She brushed fog from the mirror and stared again at her reflection. Her work was only just beginning here.

* * *

><p>Northstar had been right. Longshot proved to be much more laid back and less intimidating than Gambit. Still, Rogue couldn't seem to get close to him. Longshot, showed very little interest in her at all, and often dismissed her questions with a wave of his hand. As far as he was concerned, she had very little merit and very little rank. She confirmed her distinct impression that he didn't like her. It made Rogue's real job difficult. Longshot had her doing the most ridiculous tasks and she was hardly ever sent out on missions. When she was, she found out that her missions weren't missions at all, only errands. Grocery shopping and picking up dry cleaning was hardly what Rogue considered to be important business.<p>

It was like working under Logan's thumb all over again. He hardly ever let her do anything dangerous while she worked as an X-man and not a double agent. In fact, most times Logan didn't want her seen with the X-men at all. He didn't want to give up her valuable position as the team 'traitor'. If someone on the opposite party recognized her as an X-man, her cover could easily be blown.

Frustrated that she was getting nowhere, she angrily put the grocery bags from her recent 'mission' down on the kitchen counter. It was no use leaving them out. No one else would come along and put them away. That was something else she noticed about being here. Northstar seemed to be the only one who did anything normal around here. He was the only who tidied things up, or put things away. He was also the only who took the garbage out.

She had been here for almost a week. In that time, she had hardly seen Gambit at all. His bedroom door was closed the majority of the time. When she did see him, he looked pensive and closed off from everyone else. At meetings, he let Longshot run the show, if he bothered to show up at all. No one would tell her what was going on with him. She'd asked Longshot if Gambit was doing well once. He'd promptly told her that it was neither her business nor concern. Rogue had stopped asking after that. Even Northstar had no answers for her.

Northstar spent most of his free time with her. He opened up a fair amount and let what Rogue suspected was his real personality, shine through. It seemed he had taken quite a liking to her and Rogue was grateful to have found a friend here. It was also nice that her new friend was aware of pretty much everything that went on. Northstar was privy to all sort of information and that would certainly come in handy for her.

She didn't see much of the von Strucker twins, and for that she was thankful. When the man called Trask had come to pick up the prototype, the twins had gone with him. Rogue later learned from Northstar that Trask was a scientist working for the MRD. The twins often spent time in his lab and Rogue didn't doubt that it was because of the types of experiments Trask conducted. Sooner or later she'd need to get into Trask's lab and see for herself what was really going on. It was quite possibly her best shot at proving what the MRD was really doing.

As for Fabian Cortez, he was around quite often. Something about him just rubbed Rogue the wrong way. Perhaps it was because he had worked for Magneto before finding his way here that had bothered her the most. He was often seen with a greasy smirk and beady, little eyes that reminded her of a weasel. She did her best to avoid him. Thankfully, he was a man of few words and appeared to simply enjoy watching what went on, rather creepily, from dark corners.

Rogue had come to a stalemate of sorts. She found this mission to be particularly difficult, if only because she felt she was getting nowhere and Logan had turned on the pressure. She needed Gambit back in charge so she could actually get sent on an important mission.

It wasn't until later on that evening that Rogue managed to come face to face with Gambit. She certainly hadn't meant to, and it was his fault really.

She was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth for the night when the door leading to Gambit's room clicked open.

The door wasn't open even a crack before Rogue quickly shouted, "Occupied!" with toothpaste still in her mouth.

"You brushing your teeth?" he asked from behind the door.

"Yeah," Rogue replied. "I'm almost fin—" She stopped speaking when Gambit pushed the bathroom door open and entered. Rogue could only stare at him in shock. How unbelievably rude to just barge in here while she was here first. It appeared that again, Jean-Paul had been correct. Gambit seemed to have no boundaries.

"What are you—" Rogue had started angrily, again cutting herself off in shock as Gambit suddenly started removing his clothes.

Embarrassed, she whirled around quickly to face the bathroom mirror, only to realize, rather stupidly, that she could see his reflection behind hers in the mirror. She could see him in profile as he stripped himself down completely. Rogue tried not to look at his reflection. She really did, but she couldn't help it. She reasoned that it was his bizarre behaviour that kept her attention and not, absolutely not, what his body looked like unclothed... No matter how good looking it was.

Rogue had never seen a naked man before, and she doubted she'd ever see one that looked like _that_. His skin was a perfect tan all around and Rogue found herself blushing when she realized he had no tan lines in what should have been the obvious places. She blushed even harder when she realized she was actually checking. Her eyes travelled over his reflection, taking in every taut muscle on his being, and there were a lot to take in.

The toothbrush hung from her mouth as she watched Gambit climb into the shower and caught full view of his perfectly tight ass. He pulled the shower curtain closed and Rogue heard the water run. She could see his silhouette through the translucent, milky white curtain. Unable to see him fully, she snapped back to reality.

She scowled. No doubt this was some attempt of his to intimidate her. Well, she would not be intimidated. If he expected her to scurry out of here like a frightened little mouse, he was wrong. She wasn't going anywhere. She had been in the bathroom first and let her be damned if a naked man thought he could bully her out of it.

She stubbornly continued to brush her teeth, taking a lot longer than she normally would have. She was determined to continue her night time routine whether Gambit was there or not. It was probably foolish on her part to adamantly take on his challenge. She'd prove to the arrogant bastard that he had little effect on what she did around here. Unless it was a direct order regarding a mission, Rogue was not going to be so obedient with him.

The shower taps turned off, not having run hot enough or long enough to steam up the bathroom. Rogue watched through the mirror as Gambit pulled the shower curtain open. She involuntarily gasped as she caught a full frontal view. Holy hell. He was perfect right down to his... Rogue caught herself looking and darted her eyes upwards, resting them on his perfectly sculpted chest, marred only by the three thin red lines where Logan had swiped him.

She was surprised that she felt somewhat relieved and thankful that he was healing nicely after his attack. His wounds were closed up, and in the future, he'd have only a slight bit of scarring from the incident. It felt weird to acknowledge her relief for his well being. As for the sudden onslaught of salacious thoughts that slinked through her mind regarding him, she wasn't going to even touch on that. Nope. Nuh-uh.

Gambit grabbed a towel and wrapped it loosely around his hips. Rogue forced her eyes up again. It was almost criminal to have a towel hanging that low. It almost defeated the purpose of being there in the first place. He stepped forward and stood directly beside her in front of the sink. Rogue glanced over, unsure what exactly he was doing.

Despite herself, she jumped back when his arm suddenly reached across her. He gave a low, amused chuckle as he grabbed his toothbrush from the holder. Rogue swallowed hard. He carried on almost as if she wasn't there and began brushing his teeth, every so often glancing over at her. The silence and sly glances were almost maddening.

Unable to stand it anymore, Rogue spoke up, "I was in here first."

He spit toothpaste in the sink. "I know. Takes you forever."

Rogue folded her arms across her chest. "And you couldn't wait until I was done in here before you came barging in?"

He turned and gave her a devilish smile while still holding the toothbrush in his mouth. "Nope."

Rogue rolled her eyes. Fine. If that was how he was going to play it, fine. She continued on with brushing her hair while Gambit finished brushing his teeth and rinsed his mouth out. She was not leaving this bathroom on account of him. Though she had to admit, this rather mischievous, playful side of him was a far cry from the Gambit she'd met earlier.

Gambit reached back across her to put his toothbrush away and this time Rogue stood her ground. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of flinching again. She inhaled sharply when she felt his hand grip around her wrist. Before she could even blink, he tugged her towards him and planted his lips on hers. He kissed her fast and hard before she managed to shove him away and stumble backwards. She drew the back of her hand across her lips, trying to wipe his taste from her mouth.

"You – you... How dare— Why you—" She was so angry she couldn't even string a sentence together.

Gambit gave her the most arrogant, cocksure grin. "You're welcome."

"I oughta smack that smile right off your face!" she growled in rage.

His smile only grew wider. "Sounds fun."

"I should've left you on the floor in that damn mansion!" Rogue cursed hotly.

He licked his lips. "Consider the kiss my official 'thank you' for not doing that." Still, smiling he turned towards his door. "Sweet dreams, ma petite."

"Jerk," she muttered before turning towards her own door. Next time, if there was a next time, she'd be ready and she'd use her mutation. That would certainly teach him. She stalked back into her own room in anger. How dare he? Just who the hell did he think he was, kissing her out of the blue like that? She hated that her lips still tingled from the sensation of being kissed.

It wasn't that she had never been kissed before; it was just that she'd never been unexpectedly kissed by a man barely wearing a towel and only a towel. God, there had still been beads of water dripping down his body. She had even smelled the clean scent of soap on his skin in such close proximity. She immediately shook her head. She would not allow Gambit to invade her thoughts with his fresh, soapy scent or his dripping wet nakedness.

Next time she encountered him in their shared bathroom, she was leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite her encounter with Gambit in the bathroom, Rogue didn't see him at all for the rest of the week. She was now well into her second week here. She had half expected to see him every single night while she brushed her teeth. Longshot still appeared to be in charge because Rogue continued to be placed on ridiculous errands. If she had to go out and pick up groceries one more time, she was going to break down Gambit's door and demand he take over again. Hell, at this point, she'd challenge both him and Longshot. She was not a maid or a housewife. She was a mercenary damn it!

Rogue began to put the most recent groceries away, wondering what idiotic errand Longshot would decide to send her on next. She hadn't even heard Northstar come into the kitchen.

"Gambit has ordered to see you alone," Northstar said quietly.

Rogue cringed. The memory of their last encounter was a hard one to forget. "Do you know why?"

Northstar shook his head, reaching for one of the grocery bags. "No. All I know is that he wants to see you _now_. He's in the conference room."

"Okay," Rogue answered, gingerly putting down a loaf of bread. She'd have to face him sooner or later. "Guess I shouldn't keep him waiting."

"A wise assumption."

When she reached the conference room where the team usually met, Gambit was sitting down in one of the scattered chairs. He looked bored and menacing all at the same time. Obviously he was feeling better. He looked just as he did when she had first met him. Dangerous. Not at all the same man in the bathroom nights ago.

He motioned for her to sit down. "Have a seat, cherie."

Rogue prudently chose to sit down on the chair furthest away from him.

He chuckled softly. "I'm not going to bite."

"But you might kiss," Rogue snapped back, without thinking. Why couldn't she seem to hold her tongue around him? Even at his most menacing, the fear everyone else held for him seemed to elude her.

A broad smile spread across his lips. "You certainly have no qualms about speaking your mind."

"And you have no qualms about unwanted advances. First you paw me and then you kiss me."

Gambit smirked and that seemed to be the only answer he would give her for his past behaviour. He brushed off her attitude again with amusement. Rogue couldn't help but feel like she was a small child, not being taken seriously at all. The word 'cute' crossed her mind. Gambit acted as though she were being cute.

"What do you know of formal affairs?" he asked, suddenly switching topics.

"What? Like dinner parties and benefits and stuff?"

"Oui."

Rogue pursed her lips, thinking back to the last time she'd been at some sort of formal occasion. Oh, that was easy—never. "I don't know much. Just that real rich people seem to frequent them and they eat fancy, disgusting things like snails and wear gaudy, expensive jewellery while trying to out-pompous each other."

To her surprise, Gambit laughed out loud. "You are very candid, indeed." He frowned, scratching his chin. "A very accurate description, though."

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a wallet. Rogue watched in confusion as he pulled a credit card from the wallet.

He held the credit card out to her. "Go buy something expensive and formal to wear. And I mean the works, shoes, jewellery, a purse."

Rogue could only stare at him with her mouth agape.

"Well?" He shook the card impatiently at her. "I don't have all day. I still need you back here by seven." He paused thoughtfully. "Better get your hair styled and whatever else ladies do to clean themselves up."

"Why?" Rogue asked a bit flabbergasted.

"Because, cherie, we are going to a very important party tonight." Gambit got up from his chair. "You are dismissed."

Rogue found Jean-Paul after her meeting with Gambit and explained what had just happened. If Gambit was trying to take her out on a date, it was so not happening. She expected Jean-Paul to agree. To her surprise, Jean-Paul squealed with glee.

"I can't believe you get to come! It's the benefit auction slash party hosted by Warren Worthington Senior. He throws one every year," Jean-Paul rattled out excitedly.

"Why are we going?" Rogue asked. It didn't seem like the type of event ruthless mercenaries would be willingly invited to.

"Warren Senior is a huge financial backer for the MRD, so the MRD bigwigs want us there to run security."

Rogue frowned. "In formal wear?"

"They want us to blend in," Northstar explained. "This is the first time a rookie has been allowed to go. Fabian's going to be pissed off."

"Why?" Rogue asked. This was just great. As if she needed to make anymore enemies within the mercenary ranks.

Jean-Paul laughed. "He was the rookie last year and he never got to go. It's only the highlight of this damn job." He looked at his watch. "Oooh, we'd better get going. We have lots to do to get you ready in time."

"What about you?"

Jean-Paul laughed even harder. "Sweetie, you already took care of that with the dry cleaning run Longshot sent you on!"

Rogue had wondered what was in all the dry cleaning bags she had dropped off and picked up earlier this week. It hadn't really made sense why mercenaries would need dry cleaning. She had thought it was just Longshot being a jerk.

"Oh. I thought it was because he didn't like me," Rogue revealed sheepishly.

"He doesn't," Jean-Paul answered flippantly.

"What?" Rogue asked shocked. She had figured as much, but how Northstar knew was beyond her. "Why?"

"He thinks you're trying to steal his position," Northstar answered with a shrug.

"Where would he get that idea?"

"You did rescue Gambit. Longshot wouldn't have. Obviously that made an impression on Gambit since he wants you at the benefit tonight." Jean-Paul paused. "Plus, had you not brought Gambit back, Longshot would have been in charge longer. Maybe even exclusively, depending on how long it took Gambit to get back here."

"Great," Rogue sighed. "Who else can I antagonize around here?"

Jean-Paul threw a friendly arm around her shoulder. "Just me and Gambit, and I can't see that happening anytime soon."

By seven o'clock, Rogue was dressed in a six thousand dollar dress that Jean-Paul had helped her pick out. It was a pale blue evening gown with a low back and a long slit up the side, stopping just mid thigh. It was the kind of dress where Rogue feared that if she moved the wrong way or got it caught on something, it would fall right off. Had Jean-Paul not have gone shopping with her, she never would have spent so much money on such a dress. He insisted that it was important that she blend in with the other women at the party.

Jean-Paul had made sure she'd gotten the works, right down to body waxing and professional make-up. To top it off, she was wearing over twenty thousand dollars in diamond jewellery. She had to admit, picking out jewellery with no price limit had been pretty fun. Jean-Paul encouraged her to spend, and she gave in with little prompting. She decided that an opportunity like this wasn't likely to present itself again. She doubted she'd actually get to keep any of her fancy ensemble anyway.

When she entered the conference room with Jean-Paul, everyone stopped talking and stared at her.

"Magnifique," Gambit whispered when he caught sight of her.

Rogue had never felt more uncomfortable in her life. She wasn't used to being the center of attention. Determined not to let the group's stares bother her, she walked right up to Gambit and handed him back his credit card.

She didn't know why her being dressed up was such a big deal. In fact, she was more surprised to see how the rest of the mercenaries cleaned up. If this had been the first time she had ever seen them, she never would have believed what they really looked and acted like. Even the von Strucker twins looked respectable.

Rogue had to admit that Gambit looked incredible in his white tie and black tux. Clean shaven with his hair neatly combed back, he looked like he belonged with the extensively rich and arrogant. Even his posture implied he had money and was superior to everyone else. All the physical qualities she had admired in him shone through tonight. He looked handsome and charming, like he'd stepped out of a fairytale—only she knew better.

He held his arm out to her. "Rogue stays with me tonight."

"Why?" Andrea whined in outrage. "She shouldn't even get to come!"

It was the pettiest thing Rogue had ever heard. It was shocking that such words came from an adult, but then that was Andrea. Perpetually petty.

"Because I said so," Gambit answered in a tone that implied that was the end of the discussion.

Andrea wisely kept her mouth shut.

Rogue discreetly checked out the rest the group's faces to see what they thought. Longshot looked less than impressed. She'd expected that and rolled her eyes, him and his favouritism. Andreas blatantly ogled her in that creepy way that Rogue decided could only be patented to Andreas. Fabian looked like he couldn't care less and had actually pulled out a silver flask, knocking it back in heavy gulps. She already knew that Jean-Paul was as pleased as punch that she was going. She wondered if anyone would give him flak for that. He was just starting to come out of his gloom shell and Rogue hated the idea of Jean-Paul crawling back into that unpleasant state.

When they reached the benefit, Gambit stayed true to his word. She would be with him tonight. The rest of her team had faded off into the crowd. The only one she even caught a glimpse of was Jean-Paul, who thankfully didn't stray too far from her. She wished she was free to roam around on her own as well.

Staying by Gambit's side made her extremely uncomfortable, and not for the reason she had expected. It wasn't because he'd kissed her without her permission that she was uncomfortable with him. It was because she felt like an awkward teenager again. Like she was standing beside the most popular guy in school, and she couldn't think of anything to say to fill in the strange silence between them. This was the perfect opportunity for her to try and get some information from him, or at least continue to work her way up the ranks. But for the life of her, she couldn't really think of anything to say.

A waiter walked past them carrying a silver platter adorned with champagne flutes. Gambit grabbed two from the tray and handed her one. She thanked him and took a sip.

"So..." she began tentatively in between sips of champagne. "What exactly are we watching out for?"

Gambit didn't meet her eyes. He seemed to be scanning the room. "Anyone who looks like they might be here to cause trouble. Usually mutant vigilante groups and radical upstarts."

Rogue nodded. She had figured as much. Warren Senior was one of the public figures who adamantly spoke his anti-mutant sentiments to the media. He had even gone as far as to give the MRD financial backing. He disgusted Rogue since she knew for a fact that his own son was a mutant. She knew because his son was none other than Warren Worthington Junior, an active member of the X-men and a friend of hers.

When he was active in the group, Warren went by his mutant name, Angel. He'd taken the name because of the huge, white bird wings that protruded from his back that allowed him to fly. He really did look like an angel with his blond hair, blue eyes and chiselled good looks. The wings only completed the look.

Speaking of the devil or in this case the angel, she noticed him coming directly towards her from the crowd. Of course Angel would be here. He had public obligations to keep, and this was a benefit auction and party for charity. Angel may not have agreed with his father on the mutant subject, but he still agreed with helping children.

He was often in the public eye and he worked very hard to keep his mutant status secret. Rogue didn't blame him for keeping his mutation secret. He wasn't ready to be one of the first public figures to come out and reveal he was a mutant. To hide his mutation, he was known for his obscure style, often wearing long coats. Obviously it was to hide his wings, but to anyone who didn't know he was a mutant, it was just his style.

In fact, Angel had created his own fashion statement by showing up to events draped in long coats, and tonight was no different. Media fashion critics loved it and so did Rogue. Instead of being known for his mutation, he was known as the guy who could rock a coat anywhere. Designers were actually lining up to make him coats, pleading he wear their name. Rogue wondered if that would continue once he was outed as a mutant.

"I must say," Angel began as he approached her. "You are the most stunning lady in the room." Pretending he had never met her, he held his hand out to her in a formal introduction. "Warren Worthington Junior."

Rogue took his hand, smiling. "Anna Marie Darkholme. It is a pleasure to meet you. I've heard much of your philanthropy."

"Ah, but have you heard of my dancing skills?"

Rogue couldn't help it, she giggled. "No, I can't say I have."

"Perhaps I could show you, if you'd permit me?"

Rogue hesitated in her answer and turned to Gambit. She had no idea what she was allowed to be doing and not doing here, but a chance to talk to one of her real teammates had presented itself. She did not want to miss the opportunity.

Thankfully, Angel turned towards Gambit. "Surely you wouldn't mind if I took this beautiful creature off your hands for a dance? I promise I won't steal your date for long."

"Not at all, mon ami," Gambit answered tightly, clearly not pleased about the intrusion. He looked rather annoyed, but he wasn't going to refuse the son of the MRD's most influential benefactor.

Angel smiled and led Rogue to the dance floor away from Gambit. He motioned to the band for a slow song, and immediately the band switched tunes. Angel held Rogue close as the two began to dance. When it was safe to talk, Angel wasted no time.

"Jesus, Rogue, what are you doing here?" he asked concerned. "Do you have any idea what would happen if my father recognized you? It wasn't so long ago you absorbed his mind when you were undercover with the Brotherhood."

"I know!" Rogue hissed in his ear. "I had no choice. The MRD has us running security here. It would have looked pretty weird if I refused to come."

"It's lucky you hardly look like you. I had to do a double take when I thought I saw you."

"Thanks, Warren," Rogue replied back sarcastically.

"That didn't come out right," Warren answered immediately. "I mean you look good."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks."

"Everyone at the mansion is wondering about you. How are you getting along?"

"Pretty good, I guess."

"Logan's getting impatient. He's wondering why you haven't contacted us yet."

"Because I haven't found anything of use yet!" Rogue answered. "Gawd, can't he give me a break? I'm trying, but these things take time."

"I know. Everyone knows you're doing your best—"

"Could've fooled me with Logan," Rogue muttered bitterly.

"He's just worried about you. The MRD is a lot different than the Brotherhood." Angel sighed. "Look, nobody wants you rushing things and getting caught, least of all, Logan."

"Yet he wants something now. Nothing I do is ever good enough for him."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Angel soothed before he started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Your boyfriend looks pissed."

Rogue glanced over to see Gambit glowering darkly a distance away. Longshot was now standing with him.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's the mutant in charge of the mercenaries," Rogue supplied. "He goes by Gambit."

"_The_ Gambit?" Angel asked shocked. "The same guy who almost managed to cripple Magneto's precious Genosha?"

"Huh?"

"Logan and your brother went to Genosha stop him, don't you remember?"

Rogue did remember; she had just forgotten the name. Gambit had been sent to not only steal Magneto's helmet, but to also set up various explosives. "Shit. I thought Logan just knew him from all his breaking and entering, not because he's a terrorist."

Angel whistled lowly. "If he's the same mutant, I can only imagine the things you could find on that guy."

_Or in his room_, Rogue thought to herself. If he was the same Gambit, which he almost assuredly was, she was almost certain he was hiding the spoils of past missions there. She might even be able to find evidence against the MRD among his stuff. Why hadn't she thought of this before? His room was right beside hers, she could even get in through the bathroom. All she needed was the opportunity. God, if she could find something concrete then Logan would get off her back for awhile. He'd have a hard time arguing with her then.

The song ended and Warren let her go. "Be careful, Rogue."

"I will."

She nodded good bye to Warren before she headed back to Gambit. As she approached him, she couldn't believe her luck. She saw the perfect chance to get back to the base and snoop while everyone was still here. All she had to do was convince Gambit to let her be the one to leave.


	8. Chapter 8

Fabian Cortez was drunk out of his mind. Rogue could see it as plain as day as she approached where Gambit was standing with Longshot and now Fabian. Apparently while Rogue had been dancing and conversing with Angel, all hell had broken loose within the mercenary ranks. As Rogue reached the trio, she could hear Gambit and Longshot arguing.

"I am not taking him back!" Longshot snarled angrily. "This isn't my mess!"

Gambit looked ready to kill. "I gave you an order. I expect you to follow it."

"You were out of commission for over a week! I was in charge!"

"Well, I'm back in charge now, and you'd do well to follow a direct order," Gambit replied coolly.

Rogue stood beside Fabian, wondering when she should interrupt the discussion. She glanced nervously around the room; people were starting to stare and whisper. If this situation wasn't handled fast, Rogue could see some big consequences coming into play. As much as she would have loved a scene to break out that put the mercs in a bad light, she was currently one of the mercs, and having the wraith of the MRD rain down on them was not exactly what Rogue considered to be a good idea. At least not while she was counted as a member.

She was about to cut into the heated argument when Fabian stumbled over onto her. He was heavy, but Rogue managed to support his weight. Fabian started giggling like an idiot while Rogue struggled to keep him standing. Neither Gambit nor Longshot noticed. Oh, this was just ridiculous! They could play power struggle back at the base, not here in white tie attire. Obviously, Longshot's week of being in command had gone straight to his head, because the way he was pushing Gambit's buttons was a sure fire way towards sudden death.

"Lord Almighty!" Rogue sighed in annoyance. "Will someone just give me their damn keys, and I'll take him back."

The idea was unheard of to Gambit. "Absolument not!" he snapped irritably.

Meanwhile, Longshot was instantly shoving his car keys in her face. Rogue snatched the keys from Longshot's eager hands and turned to Gambit.

"You two are making a bigger scene than Drunky McDrunkster over here," she hissed angrily. "Now I'm getting Cortez the hell outta here, and I suggest you two go back to doing your _jobs_."

Both men stared at her in shock. She didn't give them time to respond to her words. She turned on her heel and stalked towards the exit, taking Fabian Cortez with her in all his drunken glory. She found Longshot's car with very little trouble. The man liked to drive flashy, sporty things. It took Rogue a little effort to get Fabian into the passenger seat of the tiny car.

Rogue peeled out of the parking lot and hit the road back to their hideout. Fabian spent the car trip rambling out absolute nonsense. Rogue only rolled her eyes and responded with 'yups' and 'uh huhs'. Thankfully, Cortez was a happy drunk and not an angry one. Booze also seemed to lessen his creep factor—not that it wasn't still there—it was just subdued with liquor. Rogue had expected the opposite.

She reached their base and parked Longshot's car. As soon as the car rolled to a stop, Fabian wretched all over the passenger seat and himself. Rogue wrinkled her nose in disgust. Well, at least Karma was coming back to bite Longshot in the ass. Like hell she was going to clean up this mess.

"Come on, Cortez," she muttered.

Cortez wailed that he 'wasn't feeling good'. No duh. Still, he managed to get himself out of the car and followed her into the base. Rogue's charity was pretty much done once he'd puked all over himself. No way she'd be helping him get to his room. Not in a six thousand dollar dress.

Cortez didn't seem to need her help and headed upstairs for his room. Most likely he'd pass out on his own, but Rogue wasn't going to take that chance. Aside from Cortez, she was the only one here and she was not going to waste the opportunity to investigate. When Cortez entered his room, Rogue followed silently behind. She peeled off one of her satin gloves and touched her bare hand against the back of Cortez's neck. He was down in seconds. She slipped her glove back on.

Normally, Rogue didn't enjoy taking someone out fast and hard with her mutation. It reminded her of the days where she had absolutely no control over her powers, and anyone she touched dropped unconscious in seconds. Since she'd learned to manage a certain level of control, she preferred to take her time. It also saved her from getting an onslaught of whatever her victim was thinking.

Fabian Cortez had nothing of use in his mind, although Rogue was grateful to see that Fabian had no interest in her whatsoever. His tastes went more in the direction of Andrea. That was a relief. It meant she didn't have to worry about his creepy habit of silently watching things from the shadows. Fabian's mind was filled mostly with contempt for Magneto anyway, and Rogue quickly shoved his thoughts and memories to the back of her mind.

She had work to do and with very little time to waste. She had no idea when the others would be returning and she needed this time to find something, anything that would prove what the MRD's agenda really was.

_Anything to get Logan off my back_, she added bitterly. She could only imagine what Logan thought she was doing here. Most likely he thought she was wasting time. It was typical of him to think that way. It wasn't anything new with him. She seemed to always garner his disappointment. It often felt like nothing she did was ever good enough for him. Well, this time she'd prove him wrong.

She closed the door to Fabian's room, leaving him on the floor, and headed to her own. Gambit's main door was closed. It'd be easy to break in if he had the same crumby lock on his bedroom door that she had, but she felt it was better to enter through the bathroom entrance. It was a gut instinct, and Rogue didn't make a habit of ignoring those too often.

She soon discovered that it was easy to get into Gambit's room via the joined bathroom. He hadn't even bothered to lock that door. Either Gambit was really stupid or really cocky. She was betting on the latter. No doubt he didn't have to worry much about securing his room since he seemed to do a good enough job intimidating everyone. Rogue was willing to bet that fear alone kept the other mercs away. Not her. She'd always been stubborn and she'd always tested limits.

She slowly entered his darkened room; the light from the bathroom was enough to guide her to the room's light switch. She flicked the switch and gasped. Maybe he was the one who kept their bathroom clean. Gambit's room was immaculate. Sure, she'd got a glance of his room when she'd first arrived here, she just didn't realize it was so clean.

And stark. The man didn't have anything out that personalized the room at all. She had expected a treasure trove of, well, _things_. He was a thief, after all. Yet, as she looked around, there was nothing other than the basics: a night table and lamp, an alarm clock, desk and chair, a garbage can, a dresser...nothing out of the ordinary.

She went to his closet and pulled open the doors. The closet held clothes and shoes, nothing more. She began to flip through the articles of clothing hanging in the closet only to realize that even that was meticulously organized. All his clothes seemed to be grouped together—dress clothes, semi-casual, casual. He'd even organized by colour. She shrugged to herself, guess that made dressing for any occasion quick and easy. Everything was so neat and orderly. It was almost militant.

Rogue closed the closet doors and went for the night table drawer. The drawer was near empty, housing only an old Stephen King paperback, a chapstick and box of unopened condoms. She picked up the book and flipped through it, checking to see if any loose paper fell out. Nothing. She opened the chapstick tube and tentatively gave it a sniff, unscented. She replaced the cap and put it back in the drawer exactly where she had found it. That was one of the first things she'd learned about snooping through people's stuff, it had to be put back exactly how she'd found it. She suspected that Gambit's apparent tidiness was so he could tell if someone had been in his room—less things to notice astray. Lucky for Rogue, she had experience with this sort of thing. It was why she was the best at her job.

Next, she picked up the box of condoms and inspected the seal. It appeared to have never been opened. She gave it a shake, it sounded like what she guessed were condoms. She placed the box back exactly where she'd found it and slid the drawer closed.

She moved to the desk and pulled open the top drawer. Now that was pretty weird. Gambit had stacks upon stacks of unopened decks of playing cards filling a complete drawer. She heaved a sigh. This was going to take forever because she needed to take great care and be meticulous. She began taking out the decks of playing cards and neatly stacked them in order on the floor.

Several minutes later, when all were removed, she growled in frustration. Nothing had been hidden in between the decks or at the bottom of the drawer. So far her investigation was proving to be a bust. As for the cards, she very well couldn't have just started opening up the cellophane, it'd be a dead giveaway that she'd been here. Rogue started to pick up each deck and put it back.

The second drawer proved to be a waste of time as well. Gambit had two packages of printer paper and various pens and pencils in a small square basket. At least one package of printer paper was unopened. She grabbed the remaining half empty pack and carefully leafed through it. Again, she found nothing.

God, even his trash can was empty, save for a few gum wrappers. Since she was already kneeling down, she scuttled over to the bed and pulled up the bedskirt, checking under the bed. Nothing. It was like the man was a ghost. It was only when she'd stood back up that she noticed his laptop sitting on top of the desk. She felt stupid. How could she have missed something right in front of her? _Because, stupid,_ she scolded herself, _you were too busy looking for hidden things rather than the obvious._

Computers were not Rogue's specialty. That was more of Kitty Pryde's area of expertise. What she wouldn't give for the petite brunette's assistance now. Still, Rogue knew enough of her way around a computer that she could still find things. Hacking had never been her forte, and as soon as she powered up Gambit's computer, she hoped in vain he didn't have it password locked. She let out a breath of triumph when his desktop popped on, showcasing everything.

Immediately, she started her search on his computer. She couldn't believe that in a house full of cheats and liars and unsavoury characters, Gambit didn't even lock his computer. It was ridiculous. Again, his arrogance must've come into play. Hell, she could even access his email.

Delighted with her find, she dashed back into her room to get a USB flashdrive. Once she found one with a few gigs of memory, she ran back to Gambit's room. Sitting down at his desk, she inserted the drive and began copying his emails. She wouldn't sit here and read them. That was asking for trouble. She'd learned long ago that you copied what you could and then looked at it later on your own time and in your own space.

She had barely begun her task of copying files when she froze and listened carefully. Fear struck her when she heard the front door of the building open. The voices of the other mercs carried up the stairs. Her time was running out. She glanced at the computer screen. The files were still copying.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she swore quietly to herself. Maybe Gambit wouldn't be heading up to his room just yet. She quietly moved from the chair and pushed it back under the desk where she had found it. She cocked an ear to the door. Someone was on the stairs. She heard a door open in the hallway and close.

Panicked, Rogue turned back to the computer screen. Just a few more seconds and the files would be done. It was the longest few seconds of her life. The files finished copying and Rogue quickly snatched the flashdrive. Wasting no time, she skidded across the room to the bathroom, only to realize that she had forgot to shut Gambit's computer down and turn off the bedroom light.

She could hear the voices of the twins clearly now. They were in the hallway. She kicked off her high heels in the bathroom and raced back to the computer as quietly as she could. Silently swearing, she shut the laptop down and closed it. That was when she heard him right outside his bedroom door.

"I said I'd deal with it in the morning," Gambit replied to someone in the hall.

Rogue froze in terror. She was on the other side of the room, in between his bed and his desk. She'd never make it back to her room in time. She stared around the room hopelessly. There was no place to hide. She was going to be caught red handed in his room...unless...

"Shit," she whispered when she realized her only option. Without giving it anymore thought, Rogue shimmied out of her dress. It fell to floor in seconds. Never had she been so thankful for a zipperless dress in her life. She did, however, wish she'd been wearing a bra and not the little stick on bra cups Jean-Paul had dubbed 'lick 'em and stick 'ems'. Practically nude, she climbed into Gambit's bed and pulled the covers up over herself. She peeled off the bra cups simultaneously, deciding that they weren't very attractive and would not help her cause, just as the door was opening.

She pulled the sheet up over her breasts and did her best 'come hither' pose. Having never tried to be sexy in her life, she hoped the gloves and diamond jewellery she still wore added some effect. Maybe she should have kept her high heels on.

She swore Gambit did a double take when he entered his room. The look of surprise with a healthy dose of disbelief stayed on his face for mere seconds before a knowing smile spread across his lips. He shut the door behind him.

"Well now," he began softly as he advanced towards the bed, tugging off his tie. "This is a pleasant surprise. And here I thought you didn't like me."

Rogue had no idea what to say. She had on only a tiny pair of thong underwear and she was in his bed. Oh God, what had she just gotten herself into? As Gambit started unbuttoning his shirt, she wondered whether or not it was better to be caught in his bed or at his computer. Either way, she was sure she didn't like the consequences both situations would supply. At least in his bed, he still liked her. She really didn't want to incur his anger, but she really didn't want to sleep with him either. She really wished that she had thought this through. Give up her virginity for the sake of not getting caught...or getting caught and facing punishment as a spy. She suspected that as much as she didn't want to have sex, she didn't want to be tortured or something worse. Sex with Gambit was definitely the lesser of the two evils right now.

Rogue found her voice and gave her most seductive smile. "Figured you must've had a rough night. Thought maybe I could help ease that."

At her words, he let out an uncharacteristic sigh. The expression on his face changed to one of exhaustion as he plopped down at the end of his bed. "You have no idea." He slipped his shoes off, along with his socks and turned to her, his smile coming back. "But, I'm of no mind to talk about work when a lady has been patiently waiting in my bed."

Rogue, on the other hand, was of every mind to talk. She knew she couldn't stall too long, but she would as long as she could. "I felt bad about snapping at you earlier," she purred, coyly twisting her finger around a lock of her hair. "I hope I didn't step too far out of line—"

"Not as far as Longshot," Gambit mumbled. He ran a hand through his neatly combed hair. "Besides, you were right. We were making a scene, and I..." He paused as if he was thinking better of saying something out loud. "I should have handled the situation better."

"Not your fault Longshot's a power hungry ass," Rogue replied. She dared herself to move forward and place a soft hand on his arm.

He gave a short laugh. "Yeah, well, he's been gunning for my spot for awhile now."

That was news to Rogue. Jean-Paul had never mentioned anything like that before. Maybe he didn't know. Rogue couldn't believe just how much Gambit seemed to be opening up to her. He wasn't scary or intimidating at all right now. Instead, he looked frustrated, weary and almost thankful he had someone to talk to.

For the first time, Rogue looked at things from his perspective. It must be incredibly hard to be in charge of so many unpleasant people. She knew Logan often had trouble staying in control of the X-men, and they were nice people in general. She couldn't imagine having to deal with the garbage the mercenaries brought to the table. Not once had it ever occurred to her that maybe Gambit acted the way he did because he had to. Maybe to earn respect from this lot of mutants, he had to be the biggest and baddest of them all.

He looked so tired of it all right now, and Rogue couldn't help but feel sympathetic. Maybe it was because he'd let his guard down a little for her. She was probably seeing a Gambit that no one ever got to see. It was a very dangerous position to be in. Deep down, she knew she shouldn't be sympathizing with the enemy, and Gambit wasn't the first mutant she'd felt sorry for since being here. There was Northstar as well.

"Well," Gambit began, straightening up and shaking off his melancholy. "None of this is the real reason you're here anyway."

"I—" Rogue had begun to protest when he suddenly leaned towards her and kissed her.

Caught by surprise, she dropped the sheet she'd been holding over her naked torso. Gambit inched closer to her, closing the distance between them. Rogue struggled with what she was supposed to be doing. It was safe to say that she had no idea whatsoever as to how she was supposed to be acting. She'd never done anything like this before. What was she supposed to do? How did women normally behave in these situations?

She almost fought him when she felt his tongue slide past her lips and into her mouth. She tried her best to relax and just go with the flow. God, she hoped he didn't notice how rigid and awkward she was. How was she supposed to fake that she'd done this countless times, when she had no idea what to expect in the first place? She felt like she was drowning and wildly flailing her arms about in the middle of the ocean.

She tried to recall all the romance films she had seen and all the romance novels she had read for some sort of guidance. It was a hell of a lot different to be actually experiencing it all instead of just reading or watching it. She jumped and let out a startled squeak when his hands moved around her waist.

"Désolé," he apologized, his lips brushing softly against hers. "My hands usually aren't so cold."

The temperature of his hands had nothing to do with her jumpiness, but Rogue would take an excuse where she could get one. He moved his hand up along her back and Rogue couldn't help but squirm unpleasantly. All she could think of was that she had no top on and he was touching her naked back.

Gambit pulled abruptly away from her, and Rogue panicked inside.

"Hang on," he whispered as reached over and grabbed a pillow.

Rogue's eyes widened in horror. Oh God, he'd figured her out and now he was going to suffocate her death. Instinctively, she started to pull her gloves off.

Instead of Gambit shoving her down on the bed and bringing the dreaded pillow to her face, he did something else. The pillow took on an eerie magenta glow for a few seconds. As the glow faded away, Gambit put the pillow back on the bed.

"There," he stated, smiling as he rubbed his hands together. "They should be warm now."

Rogue managed to smile weakly.

Frowning, Gambit reached for one of her discarded gloves. He gave a tiny pout that Rogue almost would have found adorable had she not been scared to death.

"Aw, cherie, you were supposed to wait for me."

Rogue gave a silent, coquettish shrug as if to say 'oops' in a flirty, girly way.

A grin spread wide across his face as he reached for her again. "Now, where were we?"


	9. Chapter 9

Rogue braced herself for Gambit's touch. He reached for her and Rogue complied, leaning her body into his. _Wow,_ she mused to herself. His hands _were_ nice and toasty. Not that they had been overly cold before, but now...well, now they felt _really_ good sliding up her back. The warmth definitely added something to the mix. Perhaps this was going to be much easier than she thought it would be.

Gambit was an attractive male, at least physically, and she couldn't help but appreciate him warming his hands up for her. She liked that he was considerate enough to think of her comfort. She had expected him to just maul her and have his merry little way with her, given how he usually acted around the others. She had fully expected his selfishness and arrogance to come out and play.

But behind closed doors, he was different. His touch was gentle, his lips were soft, and he seemed in no real hurry to take off his pants and jump her bones silly. She could definitely deal with this side of Gambit. She even began to tentatively touch him on her own. She was supposed to be seducing him, after all. She whistled appreciatively in her head when her hand came into contact with his taut stomach. Lord, she could take him down to the river and wash clothes on that stomach. A sense of giddy wonder had begun to fall over her, and considering the circumstances, she was actually starting to enjoy herself.

She'd never been this up close and personal with a man before, and she was starting to like it. Granted, she should be on her guard, this was the MRD mutant's leader and she was a spy. But, somehow with Gambit's lips slowly trailing down her neck that tiny truth didn't seem to matter.

She had to force herself to keep her mind front and center. This mission wasn't a pleasure cruise. Rogue shuddered to think what her real team would say if they ever found out she had taken her undercover duties this far. She argued that it wasn't her fault, that she had no choice...but no one on her team would ever understand. No one knew what it was really like to be forced to make the best of situations to avoid exposure.

_Exposure_. She almost sniggered to herself. She was quite exposed in order to keep from being exposed. Too bad she had no one but herself to share the ironic joke with. She had to do whatever she could to survive, and sometimes it meant she had to do things that she wasn't morally comfortable with. This was her job.

Right now, she needed to be a convincing lover to keep her cover, and that was what she was doing her best to do. She slowly slid her hands up Gambit's chest, and he sighed passionately into her neck. She shivered at the unexpected delight of having his hot breath on her neck.

She gasped out loud in surprise when his lips made it down to her very exposed breasts. His tongue flipped over and around her nipples, darting around in a teasing fashion. Never had she felt anything like it. Gambit certainly had quite a skill set with his tongue. It was unbelievably wrong to be enjoying this. She had to keep reminding herself that this was not for her enjoyment, and that she didn't want to be here at all. Since she was beginning to have mixed feelings on this whole event, alarms were going off everywhere inside her brain. Alarms that were warning her of the danger she was quickly falling into.

"Mon Dieu," he sighed with his face nestled between her breasts. "You are driving me crazy, chere. Touch me already."

Rogue frowned in confusion. She was already touching him. Her hands were right there on his chest for crying out loud! When she didn't make any effort to move, Gambit interrupted her thoughts. With a slight growl that made her heart skip a beat, he grabbed her hand and moved it down to the hard bulge in his pants. He sighed in satisfaction when her palm pressed against him.

Rogue felt the heat rising to her cheeks. She was actually touching a guy's..._you know_. Suddenly she felt very stupid and awkward again. Now she really had no idea what she was doing. Panic seeped in, and her nerves were starting to go on edge. Not able to help herself, she pulled her hand away from him.

"You're such a tease," Gambit purred, moving his head back up to her neck so he could gently nip at her throat in the most delectable fashion.

"S-sorry," Rogue managed to say stupidly. What was she doing? Was she trying to get herself caught? She went to move her hand back, but Gambit spoke up.

"Don't apologize for it." He grinned, tipping his head up and raising his eyebrows mischievously. "I like having to work for it. Half the fun."

Rogue let out a sigh of relief. He honestly thought she was just playing hard to get. It was a lucky break, one she could roll with for at least a little longer. It still didn't comfort her as well as she would have liked, and her nerves were really starting to get at her.

She shrieked when she suddenly felt Gambit's hand sliding down over her hips and under the thin elastic of her thong underwear. Great. Just great. All that would save her from his touch was a teeny triangle of fabric. And it did a lousy job separating her from him. Gambit chuckled softly, still thinking her to be purposely teasing. She immediately went to remove his hand before it hit its mark—a place she _did_ _not_ want him going.

He was quick. Her hand hovered just above his as he slipped his fingers between her legs. Her eyes widened in surprise. She inhaled sharply. There was the briefest moment where she debated whether she should stop him or not. Then his body fell away from hers and landed with a heavy thump onto the bed. He was flat out unconscious, and although no longer physically touching her, his mind was suddenly in hers.

"Shit, shit, double shit!" Rogue hissed in a panic. She'd gotten too nervous or too excited or too _something_ and she'd lost control of her mutation. This was exactly why she didn't get involved romantically with anyone. She mentally scolded herself. God, what had she been thinking?

Rogue waved her hands in distress trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do. Knocking Gambit out should have been a very good thing. It was a quick, easy way to avoid sleeping with him, except that she could see his thoughts. And right now his first and front most thought was not a pretty one.

It was an angry and suspicious thought, and when he regained consciousness, she was in a hell of a lot of trouble. In fact, it was quite possible that he was going to kill her. In Gambit's mind, there was only one reason why she would knock him unconscious: she was a spy and was after something, and had used him to get it. It was the truth, but he didn't need to be thinking that!

If she ran, he would find her. It would also prove his suspicions and blow her cover. No, she had to stay here in this room until he woke up. She couldn't even go back to her room to get some proper clothes. If he woke up and even suspected that she had left, his suspicion would remain no matter what she did.

"Think, girl, _think!_" Rogue rattled her brain for a solution to this disaster. She got up from the bed and paced the floor, nearly tripping over his discarded tuxedo shirt. She picked it up. One problem solved—something to wear. Slipping on the shirt, she was assaulted by his crisp, sultry scent. She was amazed how easily recognizable his scent was to her. It also kept his mind and its random thoughts and memories active in her head.

Perhaps she could use something of his to help her out. Rogue sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a sideways glance on Gambit and concentrated. His thoughts were a messy jumble. The messiest Rogue had ever encountered...aside from her own. Gambit had definitely mastered the art of double crossing and infiltration. Sheesh, she could learn a thing or two from him! Where Rogue's mind consisted of many different people, all separate and distinctive milling around in her head, Gambit's mind consisted of many personalities and characters all played by him milling around in his head.

She'd never seen anything like it. He was so good at believing every lie he'd ever told that it was near impossible to find the real Gambit or any truths. Not only that, he seemed to be able to keep track of every line, story or situation each of his alter egos had been involved in. It was incredible. If Emma Frost were here, she would have a field day with him. Rogue couldn't even begin to fathom the memory power this guy had. Photographic memory for sure.

She came across so many different Gambits in so many different costumes. In one, she saw him in S.H.I.E.L.D. prison garb behind a cell. In another, she glimpsed him in a S.H.I.E.L.D agent's uniform walking down a long hallway of cells as though he belonged there and was actually an agent. She saw him walk right out of S.H.I.E.L.D, even waving to the guards as he left.

So that's how he did it, Rogue mused. He'd broken out of the S.H.I.E.L.D prison in broad daylight, dressed up as an agent and strolled right on out. How embarrassing for S.H.I.E.L.D.

It'd be fun to tell Northstar how Gambit's daring escape went down, except she knew she couldn't do that. Northstar, as nice as he was, was still the enemy and Logan would have her skinned alive if she revealed everything her mutation was capable of. As far as anyone in the MRD knew, Rogue simply knocked people out by a mere touch. Knowing what she was truly capable of put her at risk. It was why the MRD didn't employ psychics. No one wanted anyone having access to private thoughts. Sure, anyone would hate their privacy invaded, but Rogue found that the guilty parties always protested the loudest.

Oh, now that was interesting. Rogue found a memory of Andrea and grabbed on. Northstar had told her that there was a rumour that Gambit had been with Andrea once upon a time. Rogue snickered. It certainly wasn't as romantic as Andrea seemed to make it out.

He was stealing antiques. Vases, to be exact. Lord only knew why. Apparently the von Strucker mansion had one he wanted and he broke in, entering through Andrea's bed chamber to get it. He'd seduced Andrea, and while she went to get herself into something more comfortable, Gambit slipped out of her room, got the vase and disappeared into the night. He had even worn a thief's mask! Rogue found it more amusing than she really should have.

Another memory stood out in his mind, and Rogue curiously took a look. It was night out, crickets were chirping. He was standing, facing an oddly familiar woman with long black hair. He gently cupped her face as a tear slid down her cheek.

"_I promise you on my life, cherie,"_ he whispered. He had never been more sincere in his life.

Then the memory was gone, slipping away from Rogue before she could finish it.

But another equally interesting facet of his many personalities caught her attention. He was sitting all alone, sullen compared to lavish extremes his other selves possessed. He was very insecure, hesitant even, and completely unsure who the hell he was anymore. Rogue felt a sudden ache in her chest. This was the real Gambit. She was almost positive.

The real Gambit had built a hard shell around himself, strictly following the code of 'do unto others before they do unto you'. It was the personality of someone who had had it rough, had never felt loved or accepted in their entire life. This was the reason all the other personalities and lies existed. Rogue tried to delve further into his memories, even reach out to him, but as quickly as she found him, he disappeared. Hiding was what he did best.

Suddenly she was bombarded with an image of herself, cocking her hip and sassing him off. It was their first meeting. She'd thrown him off guard in that meeting. He really had thought she was going to be a male. He was certainly surprised when she showed up being, well, her. She was most definitely different from any woman he'd ever met before.

Rogue was certainly surprised to see that he seemed to be very conflicted when it came to her. He was trying so hard to be the Gambit the mercenaries all knew and obeyed around her, yet his attraction to her got in the way. At first, he'd tried using it to try and put her off, thinking that she would distance herself from him. He was uncomfortable with how he felt around her and instinctively needed to push her away. At the same time, he found her intoxicating and couldn't stand not being around her. Then he'd tried using that as another method to display his dominance over the pack.

For the life of him, he couldn't seem to help but contradict all his actions when it came to her. He wasn't used to feeling anything about anyone, and he'd been hit full force with strange, new feelings for her. He had no idea how handle any of it.

Rogue was shocked to find that he really would beat the living daylights out of any of the other mercs that came near her. More surprising, was that he felt guilty for even having such possessive thoughts. He barely knew her and yet, she captivated him. He'd even gone out and bought condoms, just in case. Somehow, Rogue had managed to turn his world upside down in a matter of days.

In Gambit's world, he adamantly did not get involved with anyone. She was the first girl to catch his attention in over two years. She was the first woman he'd ever felt anything for that wasn't solely a physical attraction and even he couldn't explain it.

When he'd seen her lying in his bed waiting, he'd finally given in. He decided that maybe, just maybe this could work. Even while he thought it, he seemed to know he was kidding himself, but seeing her sexed up in his bed made him throw caution to the wind. It had been ages since he'd wanted anyone, even longer since he'd last had sex.

In Gambit's life when a woman came to him, it was because she wanted something he had, not because she actually wanted _him_. So, Gambit had closed himself off to the world in an attempt to protect himself from getting hurt. It seemed that against all his better judgement, he had placed his heart on his sleeve for her. He'd even suspected that she was the same as all the others, due to her current sexy—and uncharacteristic—behaviour, but he'd taken a chance on her anyway.

Rogue cringed. Double whammy. No wonder he was livid with her right now. Due to his line of work and background, he trusted no one and had carried on that way for years. He'd broken that rule for her. Now she was the one feeling guilty. He shouldn't be trusting her at all. She was the last person he should trust. Deep down, Rogue could see that he knew that, but a tiny spark of hope had made him take the leap. Rogue felt ill. She had just led on the loneliest man she'd ever met. She had made him think—no—_believe_ that she was interested and liked him back. That she was attracted to him and wanted him. And then she'd knocked him out.

Sadly, Rogue had found her out. She knew how to diffuse his anger and erase his suspicion. Never had she ever thought she'd sink so low.

"I don't want to do this anymore," she whispered to no one, fighting back tears.

Over and over she asked herself what was more important: her mission, or a seemingly bad man's heart. Sighing in defeat, she crawled over to Gambit's unconscious body and lied down beside him. She pulled the duvet over their bodies and closed her eyes.

Gambit genuinely liked her and it was a delicate, fragile sort of like. The kind of like where if it was nurtured, he might be saved and somehow redeemed. If it was broken, it could do some serious damage to an already damaged man. Rogue did not like the idea of playing with someone's heart. Emotional warfare was not only unkind, it was downright cruel as far as she was concerned.

She had never hated Logan more than she did now. She knew exactly what he'd have to say about this.

"_Use it to our advantage."_

She'd never forgive herself for it, but that was exactly what she was going to do.


	10. Chapter 10

Rogue felt Gambit's body stiffen and jerk upright the moment he awoke beside her. She could feel the tension, betrayal and anger radiating off of him. She thought he even growled lowly in his throat. He threw his legs over the side of his bed in a fury, ready to stalk towards her room. He hadn't even noticed that she was lying quietly beside him in the bed. It was now or never. She had to make herself known and eradicate his suspicions and anger.

Pretending to be half asleep, she moaned softly in protest to him leaving. She inched closer to him, snuggling an arm around his waist and pressing her cheek up against his bare back. He sat frozen, completely rigid the moment he heard her. His breathing had gone much quieter. Rogue could only imagine the look on his face as she felt him slowly turn his upper body towards her.

"What the hell?" he mumbled under his breath and to himself.

Rogue could feel his eyes on her, staring down at her in utter confusion. She had been right. He was not expecting her to still be here. She heard him swallow hard and then scratch his head. Then, just as Rogue hoped he would, he carefully and quietly slid himself back into the bed and under the covers with her. His body was still tense, wary and not at all too sure of what to do. So he waited.

Rogue bided her time. Obviously Gambit was a reasonable man, he hadn't tried to kill her yet, or even attempt to wake her up. After about ten minutes, Rogue stretched her arms out and yawned, pretending to wake up.

When she made eye contact with him, she smiled shyly. "Oh good, you're awake."

Gambit didn't answer, he only stared.

Rogue gave another yawn and leisurely sat up, purposely letting his tuxedo shirt slide off of one of her shoulders. Gambit's eyes darted downward briefly at the exposed flesh and wide opening of the half buttoned shirt.

Rogue ran a hand through her tousled hair. "I-I'm really sorry about that." She did her best to look embarrassed and apologetic.

"About knocking me out?" he finally replied rather sharply.

Rogue let her lip tremble ever so slightly, a perfectly placed indication to imply that his words hurt her. She abruptly threw back the covers and got out of the bed. She nervously tugged one of her sleeves as she stood before him, looking as dejected as possible.

She bit her lip and looked down at the floor. "I just knew this wasn't going to work. It never does." She looked up at him, meeting his eyes fiercely, showing just a dash of offense. "Sorry to have bothered you." With that, she quickly picked up her clothes from the floor, making sure to shake just a little to show how upset she was. Without looking at him, she made a beeline for the bathroom door. If all went well and according to plan, he would be feeling like a complete asshole right now.

She was about to open the door when he spoke up again. "Wait."

Rogue closed her eyes and let go of the knob. She was almost wishing that he would be an asshole and would just let her walk away upset after a very botched physical encounter. To his credit, he wasn't. For her, it made things that much harder because he was showing decency and compassion, even remorse...and she was playing him like a cheap fiddle.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. He frowned and scratched his head uncomfortably. "I...uh, I wasn't expecting you to still be here. I thought—"

"That I did it on purpose." Rogue finished quietly for him.

Gambit looked away. "Yeah."

"When I get really nervous or too excited—"

"You lose control of your mutation," Gambit finished, still not meeting her eyes. "I know." He glanced up her. "I read your file."

Rogue cleared her throat uncomfortably. There was still a chance she could get out of this without having to continue playing him. "This was a bad idea. I-I think it's best if I just go."

To her surprise, he nodded. He looked like hell doing it though. "Yeah." He sighed. "Look, for what it's worth, I really am sorry. I...I forgot about the difficulties surrounding your mutation. I didn't mean to be so insensitive or selfish."

Oh crap. Rogue had not expected him to be that noble or that apologetic. What was it about a man that could admit he was wrong that had her swooning? Um, probably the fact that it rarely happened in her life. 'I'm sorry' wasn't even in the vocabulary of half the people she'd encountered in her life. What was worse was that he shouldn't have been sorry at all. His first instincts about her were correct and she had manipulated him into thinking otherwise.

She gave him a small, awkward smile. "Well...I guess I'll, um, see you around."

"Yeah." He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Hey, Rogue? Would you mind not mentioning any of this to anyone?"

Ah ha! There was the Gambit she was used to.

"No problem," she answered briskly before walking out of his room.

Once in the safety of her own room and finally away from Gambit, Rogue rubbed her hands over her face in distress. Never had she felt so dirty. She had officially sunk to a level that she had swore she would never get to. Up until last night, she had always thought of herself as a decent person. Now she wasn't so sure.

She tried telling herself that it had all worked out anyway. It was over. She and Gambit would never cross romantic paths again. Certainly not after this. He'd be insane to come back to her. What guy in his right mind wanted to get involved with a girl who would knock him unconscious whenever things became too hot and heavy?

Rogue groaned. She was a complete romantic disaster. She didn't know why she had thought she could pull off being a femme fatale in the first place. Even if her mutation hadn't have kicked in, it still would have been a disaster. She was awkward and clumsy at best. Her inexperience would have shone through in no time. At least with her losing control of her power, she didn't have the honour of looking like an epic fool in front of Gambit or explaining why a virgin had just up and jumped into his bed.

She wasn't sure why she was worried about it in the first place. It wasn't like she had wanted or planned on getting down and dirty with Gambit. She hadn't had a choice. It was get caught as a spy or get caught in his bed.

_Still_...

She smiled absently despite herself. He'd been one hell of a lover...not that she'd had much experience to compare him to. It wasn't hard to close her eyes and still feel his touch. So soft, so warm, so utterly fantastic. It was almost a shame that they would never work; if not for the physical reasons, then at least for the professional reasons. He was a known thief, terrorist, mercenary and mutant MRD agent.

She was an X-man.

And she had better start acting like one.

She didn't have time to be worrying about some relationship that didn't exist. She was not that type of girl. Never had been. So why was she starting now?

Sure, Gambit had the body and looks that made a girl salivate at the mere sight of him, but that didn't mean that Rogue had to jump on the bandwagon.

_But he likes you_, her mind squealed wickedly.

So? Lots of other guys had liked her too, and once she had run them off, she'd never given them a second thought.

_They never touched you like he did._

She tried to think as objectively as she could. It didn't matter that he truly, honestly liked her. She didn't like him. She had just used him. Just played with him, toyed with his emotions like he was nothing at all to her...because he wasn't.

She wasn't even sure she could face him again anyway after what she had done to him. He'd never know it, but he would always be an unpleasant reminder of just how far down she had sunk. She was becoming the very person she hated.

_Just forget about it._

Forget about him, her and everything else involved.

Forget about everything she had seen in his head.

She jumped at the sound of knocking at her bedroom door.

"Rogue?" It was Jean-Paul.

"Just a minute!" she yelped as she quickly grabbed a pair of pants from off the floor and began shoving them on.

In record time, she flung open the door and let Jean-Paul in. He looked flustered.

"You got a message from—" Jean-Paul stopped abruptly and frowned when he actually looked at her. "Why are you wearing a man's tuxedo shirt?"

"I—"

Jean-Paul leaned forward and gave her a little sniff. His eyes widened. "More to the point—why are you wearing _Gambit's_ tuxedo shirt? I'd recognize his cologne anywhere."

"You would?"

"Shared a bathroom with him for three years, but you're dodging the question," he trilled mischievously. There was a knowing twinkle in his eye.

"It's not like that!" she sputtered quickly. "Nothing happened!"

"Enough to have lost your clothes somewhere to be wearing his."

Rogue sighed in defeat. "Alright, go ahead...lecture me."

Jean-Paul smiled wickedly. "Actually I was going to grill you for details."

"Isn't this part where you warn me of the dangers of Gambit? You're terrified of him, remember?"

"Yeah, but he's not so scary when he's boinking my friend."

"We weren't _boinking_."

"So you keep saying," Jean-Paul replied, flopping down on his stomach onto her bed. He neatly tucked his hands under his jaw and propped himself up on his elbows. "I've seen that bare ass of his in the bathroom, no doubt you have too."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "You could have warned me about that."

Jean-Paul shrugged. "Didn't know you well enough at the time to bother." He grinned. "Besides, as terrifying as that man is, he has a great ass."

"No contest there," Rogue admitted, sitting down beside him. She sighed. She couldn't believe she was even going to talk about this. "I dunno what got into me. It was a bad idea and it didn't end well."

"How so?"

"Promise you won't say a word?"

"Cross my heart."

"I accidentally knocked him out with my mutation."

This was the part where she fully expected Northstar to burst into a fit of hysterical laughter at her expense. He didn't. If she had told this to anyone else, the laughter would have been inevitable. Kitty and Bobby would never have let her live it down.

"Oh, Honey," he answered with a sympathetic, furrowed brow. "I heard about your control issues."

"It doesn't matter," Rogue said stiffly, suddenly uncomfortable. "It's over and that's it."

Jean-Paul sucked on his lower lip. "I'm sorry it didn't work out. Even more sorry it happened with him." Jean-Paul suddenly sat up. "Well, he's a jerk and he wasn't worth it. Shame on him for not understanding."

Rogue sat silently. That was the problem. Gambit _had_ understood and had been very apologetic once he realized she hadn't knocked him out on purpose. Had Rogue let things go any further, he most likely would have been more than willing to try again. It scared her. It scared her even more that she was considering telling Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul noticed her silence and gave her a playful nudge. "Lucky for you, I know just how to cheer you up. You'll be bouncing back from this in no time." Jean-Paul's voice took on a sing song tone as he waved a piece of note paper around. "Guess who sent the MRD a message for you?"

"Who?" Rogue asked suspiciously. She doubted she left an impression on anyone of note in the past week, other than Gambit.

"Warren Worthington Junior!" Jean-Paul squealed. "Can you even believe it? New York's most eligible bachelor has become smitten with you all from a single dance!"

Rogue smiled weakly. Angel was not smitten with her. Her team had found a means of getting in contact with her through Angel's father's connections. She could just imagine the stir this had created. Angel, for obvious reasons, refused to get involved with the MRD like his father had. The MRD, having no idea that Warren Junior was a mutant or X-man, was just itching to get their hands on another spokesperson/backer. Warren showing interest in Rogue was just what the MRD representatives needed to sway him in their direction. Or so they thought. Rogue was none too thrilled about the attention. The MRD would be paying closer attention to her now.

On the plus side, Rogue would be able to pass information on to the X-men without having to sneak around. That would certainly make her life easier. All she had to do was go out on 'dates' with Angel. That would certainly be easy enough. She'd be able to convey things at a nice normal pace, rather than rushed, hushed secrecy.

"You're speechless, I don't blame you!" Jean-Paul rattled on excitedly. "Oooooh, Gambit's going to regret messing things up with you now!"

Rogue felt sick. She hadn't even thought of Gambit. He still liked her. She could only imagine how he was going to take this news.

There was another knock on her door. She exchanged glances with Jean-Paul before getting up to answer it. She opened the door to see a very hung over Fabian.

"Gambit's called a meeting. He wants everyone in the kitchen now."

Rogue had a sinking feeling that Gambit had just received the same news she had. Somehow, she didn't think she was going to enjoy this meeting.

Fabian left and Northstar stood up. "At least if we're in the kitchen we can have breakfast, albeit a late one. I hate it when he calls those things in the conference room before we get to eat." He gave her a quick once over. "You'd better change out of that shirt."

* * *

><p>Gambit was leaning up against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in his hand when Rogue and Jean-Paul arrived. The twins were sitting at the far end of the table finishing up their brunch, while Fabian sat close by, just starting to eat. Rogue didn't make eye contact with Gambit as she followed Northstar's lead and poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a muffin.<p>

The two sat at the other end of the table. Jean-Paul started eating immediately, but Rogue paused. Something was off. She glanced around the room. Longshot was missing. It didn't seem to bother Gambit. Strange for someone who was so annoyed with Longshot deliberately challenging his orders. Couldn't not showing up be construed as defying orders?

"So," Gambit began after a long sip of coffee. "First things first—"

The kitchen door swung open and Longshot entered the room. Rogue gasped, Jean-Paul stopped eating. The twins snickered. Fabian's eyes went wide before he hurriedly poured whiskey into his morning coffee.

Longshot silently limped to the table and sat down. A shiver went up Rogue's spine. Judging by the black, swollen eye, split lip and limp, someone had taught Longshot a very harsh lesson last night. Rogue had a pretty good idea who. She dared a glance at Gambit, looking for confirmation. His face was cold, vicious and unsympathetic. It confirmed her suspicions.

Gambit walked over to where Longshot sat and stood directly in front of him. He moved his fist so fast that Rogue jumped. So did Jean-Paul. Rogue heard the sickening crack as Gambit's fist made contact with Longshot's cheek.

Gambit spoke in a calm, dark voice, "I do not tolerate insubordination. I would've thought you'd learned that last night. Next time, show up on time."

"S-sorry," Longshot whimpered.

Gambit stepped away as though nothing had just happened. Rogue could only stare in shock. This was hardly the man she'd been with last night. Beside her, Jean-Paul was visibly shaking. Rogue put a gentle hand on his arm to help calm him. He gratefully gave her a weak smile.

Gambit picked up his coffee cup and took another sip. No one dared take their eyes off of him.

"As I was saying," he shot an angry look in Longshot's direction, "I've called this meeting to address some very important issues that have come up." He paused for effect. "First off, I am in charge around here. Anyone who would like to openly challenge that, feel free. Longshot did."

Nobody moved or said a word. Not even the twins, who Rogue imagined were just loving this. Gambit walked over to Fabian. The twins visibly scooted their chairs away from him—and just in time too. Gambit swung his hand so fast that Rogue couldn't quite believe what she saw. One minute Fabian was nervously gulping down his spiked coffee and the next, the cup was away from his lips and in Gambit's hand without spilling a drop.

"Second," Gambit growled. "I do not tolerate drunken behaviour while on the job." He hurled the cup against the wall with enough force that it smashed into tiny pieces. He pointed at the splattered coffee sliding grotesquely down the wall. "If it happens again, Cortez, that will be you."

Fabian could barely nod in understanding he was shaking so bad.

Gambit straightened his shoulders and gave his neck a visible crack. He returned to leaning against the counter. "Fenris," he addressed next. The twins gave each other nervous glances. "Trask called this morning. Phase two of his project is ready and he would like your assistance. I suggest you hurry."

Without a word, the twins got up from the table and scurried out of the room like scared little mice.

When the twins were gone, Gambit spoke to Longshot and Fabian. "You two have cleanup duties. An agent is waiting for you at the main building."

Both men got up and hurried away, visibly frightened of Gambit.

It was just Rogue and Jean-Paul left. Rogue tensed, wondering what Gambit would do next as he turned his attention to them.


	11. Chapter 11

Rogue watched with caution as Gambit approached them.

He went and stood right in front of Rogue. He looked surlier by the second. "The MRD would like you to have lunch with Warren Worthington Junior this afternoon at that bistro on Second Avenue," he muttered unpleasantly. "It seems he's taken a liking to you."

Rogue nodded meekly, unsure why she felt so weird about Gambit saying it.

"He doesn't know you are a mutant and the MRD really wants his support, so I suggest you don't screw this up by taking things too far and getting nervous or something."

Rogue glared at him, instantly getting what he was implying. It was unnecessarily cruel to throw last night back in her face. "How dare—"

"The MRD's words, not mine," Gambit cut in tensely.

They managed to lock eyes in some sort of inner struggle that each was trying to ignore. He turned away from her abruptly and went to the fridge.

He poured a glass of water and returned to the table. He set the glass down in front of Northstar. Jean-Paul inhaled sharply. Rogue straightened up. It appeared that Northstar was next on Gambit's list. There was no way she was going to sit here and let Northstar be bullied for no reason. She watched as Gambit produced a bottle of pills from his coat pocket. He set the bottle down beside the glass of water.

"There are two ways you can take these, Jean-Paul," Gambit began. "One way is to open the bottle, take a tablet, put it in your mouth and swallow it with this glass of water. The second, I shove it down your throat and force you to take it."

Rogue gaped in outrage. How dare he try and make Jean-Paul take mysterious pills. God only knew what they were. She was one hundred percent willing to fight him over this. He'd gone far enough already. Rogue was moving to get out of her chair to tell Gambit where to go and how to get there when Jean-Paul gently grabbed her arm.

"It's okay, Rogue," Jean-Paul said quietly and surprisingly calm. He took the bottle and opened it.

"You don't have to do this," Rogue countered sternly.

Jean-Paul ignored her and to Rogue's surprise, he looked up at Gambit. "I haven't thought about it in over a week."

"It's a precaution," Gambit replied. "It's in a few days."

Jean-Paul nodded and popped a pill in his mouth, swallowing it with water.

Gambit took the bottle from Northstar and put it back in his pocket.

"That's all," he snarled miserably before he stalked out of the room with all the fury of Hell itself.

Rogue immediately turned her attention to Jean-Paul in concern. "What did he just make you take?"

Northstar glanced away from her, embarrassed. "It's a type of antidepressant. Not even on the market yet. Gambit has connections."

"What kind of antidepressant?" Rogue asked suspiciously.

"The kind that will effectively keep me from harming myself," Jean-Paul answered quietly.

Dread washed over her and she frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It interacts with certain neuropathways and effectively cancels out any..." Jean-Paul hesitated.

"Any what?" Rogue pressed. She already suspected his answer, but she had to hear it from him.

Jean-Paul's face sunk as he looked up at her. "Any suicidal thoughts." He swallowed hard, and rolled up his sleeve, revealing his wrists to her. "Better you find out from me then someone else."

Rogue couldn't breathe. There, along his wrists, were the thin, red scars from razor cuts. Lengthwise along his arms. He'd tried to kill himself, and he'd done the cuts properly.

"Why would you want to kill yourself?" she asked, barely making a sound. She stared at the ugly scars in horror. One was hidden almost completely by a silver bracelet, but nonetheless was still there.

"I—" He seemed at a loss for words. Suddenly his face contorted in anger. "Do you know why I hate the von Strucker twins so much?"

Rogue shook her head.

"They don't appreciate what they have." His lip twitched angrily. "Twins are special, unique and Andrea and Andreas...they...they pervert that bond! It's sick that they would even get to still be together!"

"Jean-Paul?" Rogue asked gently. He wasn't making a whole lot of sense right now.

"I only wanted to follow after her," Jean-Paul whispered in a lost voice.

"Follow after who?" Rogue prodded carefully.

"Jeanne-Marie," Jean-Paul sighed the name in despair. "My twin sister." Tears slid openly down his cheeks. "But she went to the one place he won't let me follow."

Rogue swallowed hard. "What did he mean when he gave you the pills and said, 'it's in a few days'? What is in a few days that would make you want to kill yourself?" Rogue asked, dreading the answer.

"The anniversary of my sister's death."

Rogue could barely believe what she was hearing. Not once had she suspected that Jean-Paul was suicidal, or that he had a twin sister. Sure, he'd been quite sullen when they had first met, but he'd gotten quite cheery since then.

"I'm so sorry, Jean-Paul." Rogue was at a loss for words. "I-I had no idea that you'd lost a sister."

"She's dead and it's all my fault," Jean-Paul said softly. "It should have been me, and that damn bastard won't let me join her."

Rogue ascertained that the 'damn bastard' he was referring to was Gambit. He was the one who had made Jean-Paul take the anti-suicide pills. It was a little confusing. Why would Gambit care whether or not Jean-Paul lived? And if Gambit was determined to keep Jean-Paul alive, surely it was strange for Jean-Paul to be so afraid of him.

"Three times," Jean-Paul continued. "Three times I tried to die, but he 'saved' me each and every time. The third time was almost a charm." He held up the wrist with the silver bracelet. "After that Gambit brought me this and made me wear it."

Obviously it was no ordinary bracelet. "What is it?" she asked.

"One of Gambit's little thieving treasures," Jean-Paul answered in contempt. "He stole right out from under the noses of some experimental medical lab lackeys. It keeps track of my pulse 24/7 and sends the results straight to Gambit's smartphone like every God damned minute. And it doesn't come off."

"Why are you so afraid of Gambit if he keeps saving your life?"

"What? Two minutes ago wasn't a good enough example?" Jean-Paul gave a bitter laugh. "Oh, believe me, it's not out of the goodness of his heart that he does it. I'm alive solely because the MRD wants it that way. He's simply following orders." Jean-Paul rolled his eyes, and remarked sarcastically, "Speed and endurance mutants are pretty rare. I'm a valuable asset to the company. Not only that, I owe double time."

"I'm not quite sure I understand."

"Sorry," Jean-Paul gave an apologetic smile. He seemed to realize that he had been angrily ranting. He scratched the back of his neck. "I guess I'm not making all that much sense." He was starting to sound more like himself.

"Jean-Paul," Rogue said in a soft, serious tone. "I don't like hearing about you wanting to be dead. I care about you, and I don't want you to die."

"You know," Jean-Paul said as a small smile spread across his lips. "Since I met you, I haven't wanted to."

Rogue knew she shouldn't be doing it, but she did anyway. She leaned over and hugged Northstar. Logan would have a fit if he realized just how close she was becoming to a man who worked for the MRD. She didn't care. Northstar wasn't like the other mercenaries. He was different, and although Rogue didn't know the whole story yet, she was willing bet that Northstar wasn't one of the bad guys. He just appeared to be on the wrong side at the wrong time. He was her friend, and right now her friend was hurting. Friends supported each other, and Rogue intended to do just that.

"Come on, lady." Jean-Paul pulled himself out of her arms. "You've got a date to get ready for."

Rogue reached for his hand as he turned away. "I'm here for you if you ever want to talk more about it."

The smile faded from his face, but not the grateful look in his eyes. "I know. You're a good friend." His cheeks coloured slightly. "I haven't had one of those in a long time."

Rogue followed Jean-Paul out of the kitchen. He had said that it was his fault that his sister had died. Rogue wondered what tragedy had befallen them. She knew it wasn't right to pry. Jean-Paul would tell her when he was ready. She was surprised he'd told her as much as he had. He really did trust her.

Just like Jean-Paul, Rogue hadn't had a good friend in a long time either, it was kind of nice to have one now. Not since Domino had she been able to connect with someone on the same level as she had with Jean-Paul. It bothered her that she couldn't seem to gain any close friendships back at the mansion. She had Forge and Angel, sometimes even Storm, but she wasn't 'share your darkest secrets' close to any of them. They certainly didn't reveal a whole lot of their personal thoughts and secrets to her either.

God, maybe she did belong on the wrong side. She seemed to get along better with people of questionable intentions. What was wrong with her that she couldn't make lasting, meaningful friendships with her real team? Just once she wanted to be able to feel like she was fully accepted as an X-man. Just once she'd like Logan to tell her that she'd done a good job, instead of criticize every move she made.

Jean-Paul stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the top of the staircase that led to their rooms. Rogue just about ran right into him. She peeked around him to see Gambit hanging around outside her bedroom door. Obviously, he'd been waiting for her. No doubt to speak with her in private about God only knew what.

"I'll catch you later," Northstar said nervously to her before disappearing into his own room.

Rogue made her way down the hallway to her room. She stopped just short of her door while Gambit pulled himself up off the wall.

"What do you want?" she addressed him darkly.

He grabbed her door knob and pushed the door open. He waved his hand in an 'after you' gesture and Rogue stepped into her room. Gambit followed her wordlessly and closed the door behind him.

"Well?" Rogue asked impatiently. "I'm kind of busy right now. I need to get ready."

Gambit made no move to do anything.

Rogue rolled her eyes and turned her back on him. "Fine. If that's how you're going to be—"

"I'm not happy about you going."

"_Really?_" Rogue muttered sarcastically, opening her closet door. "Somehow I hadn't managed to get that from you at all." She leafed through her closet for a dressier top than the one she had on. Pulling one off the hanger, she draped it over her arm while she picked out a skirt.

"I don't trust him."

Oh, that was rich. Gambit, a man who she wouldn't trust with her life, was telling her that he didn't trust Angel of all people. It was almost laughable. Rogue so didn't have time for this. She needed to get ready to meet with Angel. Having had enough of Gambit for today, Rogue decided to ignore him and finish getting dressed. She slipped her top over her head and then pulled off her pants.

It wasn't until she was zipping her skirt up that Gambit had moved directly in front of her. He stood mere inches away. Not wanting to lock eyes with him again, she turned to put on her top. He grabbed her a little roughly by the arms and whirled her around to face him. His grip was hard enough to bruise.

He looked her straight in the eye. "He's not what he appears to be, Rogue."

Rogue scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Gambit loosened his grip on her, his eyes softening. "It means I want you to be careful."

"Why would you care?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"I think he might be a mutant."

Rogue laughed abruptly and weaseled her way out of his grasp. "Oh, come on! What a ridiculous assumption." She turned away from him to get her high heels.

He followed her, grabbing her arm again. "I'm serious, look." He pulled a long, single white feather from his coat. "I'm sure he dropped this last night."

"So?" Rogue replied sceptically.

"So, not only do I think he's a mutant, I think he might be an X-man as well. I have reason to believe you may be walking into a trap."

Rogue heaved a sigh and reached for the feather. He handed it over. She might as well placate him, otherwise he'd never leave. She trailed the feather mischievously up his neck and under his chin. "If you say to be careful, then I'll be careful."

"Thank you," he whispered before cupping her face and drawing her into a kiss.

Gambit seemed to excel in the art of kissing. Before she even realized it, she was kissing him back, gently mingling her tongue with his. He artfully deepened the kiss, going so far as to pull her tightly against him. The gentleness quickly turned to fierce and needy. Rogue wasn't sure whether she had switched the tone or if he had.

She knew they shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be letting him do this. She gently pushed him away. She was mildly surprised that he let her go.

"We already decided this wasn't happening," she reminded him, trying to ignore her sudden desire to continue the kiss.

"I don't care."

"Well," Rogue replied sternly, stepping away from him. "You're going to have to."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So just a quick heads up that the updates will be a bit longer and later this coming week and possibly the next. We are road trippin' it out to the West Coast with the baby and the dog in tow. Sorry for the delay in updates, once we're settled in B.C. I should be back with my regular updating schedule. Thanks for your patience!


	12. Chapter 12

Rogue had a lot on her mind by the time she met Angel for lunch. He saw her enter the restaurant and stood up from his chair, waving her over. Rogue was grateful he had already arrived; she hated waiting by herself in places. When she reached the table, Warren held her chair out for her.

"I got you a little something," he said when they were both seated. He pulled a small jewellery box from his pocket and handed it Rogue.

"Thanks, Warren," Rogue answered, a little unsure and a dash skeptical. She opened up the box and gasped. It was the prettiest white gold ring she'd ever seen, inlaid with vibrant, tiny emeralds. "It's beautiful!"

"I thought you'd like it." He smiled and reached for her hand. "Here, let me put it on."

Rogue was fully capable of putting the ring on herself, but Warren seemed insistent, so she allowed it. She admired it as it shone prettily on her hand.

"There," Warren said, leaning back in his chair. "Now we can talk freely."

Rogue laughed, now she understood. "Something from Forge?"

Angel grinned. "Made especially for you. That little circlet will cancel out any radios, microphones and whatnot that might be trying to listen in on this conversation. Or any conversation you might want under wraps. Just slide your thumb across all five emeralds to activate and deactivate it."

"It's brilliant!" Rogue exclaimed. "Thank you."

"Thank Forge. He designed it, right down to the rocks to match your eyes. I just found him the necessary pieces."

Rogue would have to thank Forge. This was probably the smallest high-tech gadget he'd ever invented. And the prettiest.

"That's not all, it doesn't even give off any sort of electronic waves or anything. Completely undetectable anywhere." Angel laughed. "We made Kitty wear it through airline security as one of the tests. She was horrified it was going to go off!"

Rogue laughed. Poor Kitty, the girl was always so jumpy. Nothing bad would have happened in airline security, she just would have had to take off the ring.

"So how are things going?" Angel asked. He glanced down at his plate. "I know it hasn't been that long since we last spoke, but, well..."

Rogue rolled her eyes in disgust. "But Logan's asking."

Angel sighed. "Yeah."

"Of course."

"I told him you were trying, even mentioned that you got the opportunity to investigate your base alone when you took advantage of that drunken scene. He jumped right on top of that."

"I'll bet," Rogue answered dryly.

"So..." Angel hesitated. "What happened? Did you find anything?"

"I got a chance to search Gambit's room. Nothing but some copied emails from his laptop, and I haven't had a chance to look at them."

Angel nodded. "I'm sure that will be good enough for Logan."

Rogue gave a bitter smirk. "I doubt it."

"Come on, Rogue. He really isn't _that_ bad."

"Not to you. With me, he's different. You guys all know it, so don't act like you don't."

"He just seems to have higher expectations for you. It's not a bad thing necessarily."

"It is when you're hiding in a viper's nest, trying to rush through things to make him happy."

"We appreciate what you're doing," Angel replied honestly. "And if no one has told you that until now...well, now you know. You've put yourself at great risk and it's certainly not unnoticed, even to Logan."

It was the first time anyone on the team had spoken any words of gratitude to her. Funny that she'd had to wait months to finally hear it from the X-men, when Gambit had praised her within hours of her first successful mission. He'd told her she'd done a good job; a direct compliment from the boss. As nice as Angel's words were, they still weren't from Logan. She doubted that he even knew Angel was complimenting her on behalf of the team. That was why Angel was the PR guy. He could spin anything into a good light. Even Logan.

"There is something important I just discovered that you need to know, Warren," Rogue said, remembering the feather. She hadn't given it back to Gambit on purpose and had brought it with her. If Gambit asked for it later on, she had accidentally lost it.

She discreetly pulled the feather from her pocket and slid it across the table. Warren's eyes widened and he snatched the feather quickly, shoving it into his inside coat pocket.

"Gambit found it last night, said it fell off of you. He suspects you are a mutant."

Angel blanched. "Oh God..."

"He's even gone so far as to suspect you are one of the X-men."

Angel swallowed hard. "I can't be found out...not now, not yet."

"I know," Rogue whispered sympathetically. "I'm doing everything I can to take the heat off of you. I swear, they won't find out. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Thank you," he sighed weakly.

"I gave you the feather. That's the only evidence the MRD had. Now you have it. They can't run DNA on it or nothing now. I'm gonna do my best to persuade Gambit that his suspicions are wrong."

"You think you can really convince him? He's a mastermind, the guy thinks of everything—"

"Trust me," Rogue interrupted sternly. "I will convince him otherwise."

Angel merely nodded. He looked scared and Rogue didn't blame him. If the MRD were the ones to reveal Warren's mutant status first it would be disastrous. As far as Rogue was concerned, it wasn't up to anyone but Warren to decide to reveal he was a mutant. Nobody else should have any say in it. Rogue was going to do everything in her power to protect Angel's secret.

"Logan wants us to continue meeting for 'dates' to keep him informed.

"It puts both of us in the MRD spotlight."

"I know," Angel replied back firmly. "But after what you've been risking, I'm willing to put myself out there. We are in this together."

"Thanks, Warren. I really do appreciate that."

Angel gave her his usual sparkling smile. "That's what friends are for. I'll send messages every so often to meet with you. I can't contact you directly yet. The MRD is just chomping at the bit with me showing some sort of interest in their organization—even if it is through a girl. They don't want to relinquish their involvement just yet."

That didn't surprise Rogue at all. "I understand."

When Rogue finished her lunch date with Angel, she didn't head back to the mercenary base. Instead she headed straight for the local library. She thumbed the flashdrive in her coat pocket. She'd been wanting to look at its contents since last night, but things had come up that prevented her from attending to it right away.

She could easily have looked at it on her own laptop, but the way Gambit had been hanging around and acting, she didn't really want to risk it. No doubt he was waiting for her to return. His interest in her had unfortunately not waned. Not now that Warren had also shown 'interest' in her. She already knew Gambit possessed a jealous streak when it came to her. She had seen it in his mind yesterday.

She found it a bit adorable, which was so not the right way to feel about it. Wolves could be adorable too...it didn't make them any less vicious though. Gambit was a dangerous man, even deadly. She couldn't deny or ignore that fact. Not after this morning's meeting. She shuddered. He had been above and beyond scary. Crossing Gambit would be a bad idea—a really, really horrifically bad idea.

To say she was confused about him was a huge understatement. There were parts of Gambit that were so fragile and so torn that Rogue wanted nothing more than to pick up the pieces and carefully put him back together. It was stupid and needlessly reckless, but she even found herself attracted to parts of him. The passionate, considerate, even gentle man she had been with last night had impacted her more than it should have.

Even still, he had saved Jean-Paul's life three times. Jean-Paul had said that it was Gambit's job, that he'd been ordered to do it, but Rogue wasn't so sure. Gambit didn't seem like the type of man who would waste his time monitoring someone all the time for fear they'd try and off themselves just for work. That took a different degree of determination and commitment. No, Rogue suspected there was much more to Gambit than he let on.

She had seen tenderness in him, she had seen good in him. As horrible as Gambit outwardly behaved, she couldn't discount that she had seen aspects of him that he'd kept hidden from everyone. He'd even taken her aside and expressed his genuine worry for her before she left to meet Warren. What was to stop him from worrying about Jean-Paul too?

Rogue sighed. She was thinking too much about all of this. Gambit had already made it clear that he liked her, was attracted to her and wanted her in the worst way possible. She'd seen no indication that he felt compelled to care about anyone other than her. Even if she wanted to believe he cared about Jean-Paul's well being, she had no proof to back it up. She was making up excuses for him so that she could justify her own feelings towards him. Rogue could not possibly be attracted to a monster, could she?

She hoped she wasn't that far gone.

She entered the library and headed towards the cubicles that housed the computers. Finding one empty in the corner, Rogue sat down. She was glad her back was to the wall. It was risky checking the flashdrive on a public computer, but at this point, it was the least of her worries. Hell, it might be good to have incriminating evidence on the MRD show up on a public computer's memory.

Rogue opened the file list and started opening files from the top. She groaned in disgust when the first email was junk mail. The credit card phishing kind. The next five were also junk mail. Why the hell wouldn't Gambit filter his emails? Maybe he wasn't a computer savvy person. It would explain why his computer was unsecure in the first place.

She opened the next file and frowned in confusion.

"_Avidgardners dot com__ weekly gardening newsletter,_" she read out loud, absolutely dumbfounded. At first she thought this too was junk mail, until she read further. "_Dear Mr. Etienne Gambit, Hey, Fellow plant enthusiast and hobbyist, spring is the season for gardening and we've got just the tips and secrets you need to showcase the most stunning plants on your block."_

Rogue stared at the screen in disbelief. She scrolled down to the bottom of the page and read the fine print stating that it was a subscribed email. That meant Gambit had signed up for the emails.

"You have got to be kidding me," she murmured. Gambit was a hobby gardener? He hardly appeared the type, not to mention she hadn't seen any plants anywhere at all at the base. She took out a pen and notepad from her purse and scribbled down the website name. Something so out of place had to be checked out. It was downright weird.

The rest of the emails proved to be of no help. She found emails pertaining to online poker playing accounts, many of which sent their 'congratulations to Mr. E. Gambit'. So he liked to play cards, Rogue rolled her eyes. Like she hadn't figured that out from the vast amount of playing cards he'd kept in his desk.

She even found emails from the MRD head office, but none had anything incriminating or suspicious. It was so like the MRD to appear squeaky clean on the surface, even in emails to their own. She let out an exasperated sigh. She had absolutely nothing to report back to Logan.

She pulled the flashdrive from the computer and put in back in her coat pocket. Having nothing better to do, and so that she could honestly tell Logan that she had checked everything out, Rogue typed in the website address for the avid gardeners. Much like she suspected, it was a gardening website devoted to gardening. Big surprise. The only thing odd about it was that Gambit was a member.

She clicked on the different sidebars, exploring the site. She looked at the spring gardening tips, read the current site news and popped into the gardening forum.

"Useless," Rogue uttered to herself. She could care less that 'SkullcapServant' had just planted their new magnolia and that the maple it was planted by was now thriving. Or that 'MarshMarigold' was pleased to hear that the maple they'd sent had transferred well after such a rocky start.

As a last resort, she flipped through the photo gallery. It was mostly little old ladies showcasing their prized plants. Boring. She clicked on the next photo and gaped. It was a photo of Gambit, only he didn't look like Gambit. He was dressed like a gardener, even wearing the goofy wide brimmed hat and posing proudly beside some flowers. She couldn't for the life of her remember the plant name, but then she had never been all that interested in plants to care. Irises, maybe? Yeah, she was sure the purple flowers were irises. She couldn't name the tiny white clustered flowers surrounding the purple ones though.

Rogue was floored. He really was a hobby gardener. God, she didn't even know he could smile like that. It was a cute, wholesome grin, boyish even. There wasn't anything about the photo of him that looked like Gambit. Another one of his alter egos? Rogue wasn't sure. What would Gambit gain from posing as a gardener? Besides looking absolutely adorable in muddy jeans and a white t-shirt, Rogue couldn't think of a thing. Any man who enjoyed cultivating plants couldn't be entirely evil, right?

She logged off of the internet and went about erasing the computer's history. She had wasted enough time here. Gambit's computer had been a complete bust. Her mood was becoming increasingly soured, despite the eye candy she'd just found. It only heaped more unanswered questions onto her. More questions, even less answers.

On top of everything else she had encountered in the past two days, she did not need the disappointment and frustration of coming up empty handed for Logan.

She had enough problems and concerns already. There was Gambit. There was Northstar. There was Angel. Now Logan was clawing his way to the top of the pile. As if the world was agreeing with her, it had started to rain when she stepped outside of the library.

"Of course," Rogue muttered, as she dashed across the street to her car.

By the time she got back to the base, it was pouring rain. A figure sat on the front steps, and as Rogue approached the figure, she groaned. Gambit.

He sat on the concrete steps, looking oblivious to the rain, like he couldn't care less that he was soaked to the bone. Rogue's body cared. And she hated herself for it.

Water droplets dripped down his skin, matting his hair to his forehead. She couldn't help but be reminded of her encounter with him in the bathroom when he'd first kissed her. Her body tingled just at the sight of him. At least this time he was clothed. Not that it did any good. His shirt clung to his body, showcasing every single one of those delectable muscles hiding underneath the fabric. He hadn't buttoned the shirt up entirely, and Rogue appreciated the tan v-shaped flash of exposed skin, stark against his usual dark clothes.

She wasn't even going to look down and see how the wet pants looked on him.

He raised his eyebrows, and tipped a can of beer in an odd sort of salute to her before he took a gulp. She hadn't even noticed he'd been drinking until now. Wasn't she just the shining example of the observant spy? She had certainly observed his body well enough.

"It's against the law to have open liquor in public," she commented when she finally reached the steps. Hell, it had to be around four in the afternoon. The darkness from the clouds made it seem much later than it really was.

He smirked. "You gonna tattle on me, chere?"

She shook her head, before tilting her head wryly. "No, but _I don't tolerate drunken behaviour while on the job_."

He shifted his eyes away from her and looked down. His body shook with silent laughter. "You know, you're the only one here that could say that and get away with it." He stopped laughing and looked up at her seriously. "How come you ain't afraid of me?"

"You haven't given me a reason to be."

He stood up and advanced towards her. "Haven't I?"

His lips were suddenly against hers and Rogue knew he hadn't put them there.

This time, she had kissed him first.


	13. Chapter 13

_What the hell is the matter with you, girl? Are you out of your ever loving mind?_

_Yes. Maybe. I don't know,_ Rogue silently answered the voice of reason shouting in her head. She hated that it sounded exactly like Logan. He was the last person she wanted flitting about in her mind while she was shoving her tongue down Gambit's throat.

She dimly heard the clanking of Gambit's beer can hitting the concrete. He'd tossed it aside to grip her rear firmly in both hands. She kissed him harder and dug her hands into his wet, matted hair. He moaned softly into her mouth. He tasted of beer and rain.

Rogue had never been one for beer, but tasting it on his lips and in his mouth made it the most heavenly flavour. Like nectar from the gods. Hell, she'd even taste poison from his mouth if it felt like this.

The rain continued to pour down on them, setting a cool edge to the heat between their entwined bodies. She wouldn't have been surprised if steam had risen around them, though she was much too occupied to look. She felt hot and needy, cool and shivery, all at the same time.

_This had better just be to distract him from asking about Angel_, her mind hissed, again in Logan's voice.

_Shut up, Logan. I know what I'm doing._

Except she didn't really. She had no idea what it was about Gambit that made her body ache for his touch. She craved him in a way she couldn't quite explain. Didn't _want_ to explain.

She didn't want to have to listen to Logan anymore. She didn't want to have deal with everything by herself. She knew she had finally hit her breaking point. The stress of the job was getting to her. She needed an outlet, needed a release. She needed something honest, something she knew was real.

_This is a really bad idea._ The voice of reason, the Logan, in her head crossed his arms firmly across his chest and gave her a reproachful stare.

_Just go away already. Leave me alone,_ she silently pleaded.

The time for thinking was over. She yanked Gambit closer to her body. She knew how to get her brain to shut up. She needed to distract the body from listening. Gambit was the perfect distraction. She'd kiss him until she forgot everything. Until she didn't feel like everything was spinning wildly out of control. She'd latched on to the one thing in her life she knew for certain was true—Gambit liked her. A sense of giddy rebellion filled her. It felt good to finally do something because _she_ wanted to and not because she had to.

Gambit tore his lips from hers, catching his breath. He held her at almost arms length. "I thought we decided we weren't doing this?"

"Shut up," she growled, moving to kiss him again. He was so frustrating at times and she needed this.

His hand moved up to stop her, and he gently pressed his fingers to her needy, swollen lips. Concern etched across his face. "Where did my little tease go? She was here not long ago."

Suddenly angry, Rogue stepped away from him, her body chilled over from the rain. Why couldn't she just have one simple thing without always having to explain herself or make up lies? Nothing in her life was ever so simple, so basic.

"Fine!" she snapped. "I didn't want your hands on me anyway!"

Gambit raised his eyebrows in surprise before he tilted his head mischievously. "I wasn't just going to use my hands."

"Then make your move, hotshot, 'fore I change my mind again," Rogue challenged.

"For the life of me, ma cherie, I can't seem to figure you out." He gave her a sly grin, as though he couldn't quite believe he was in this situation.

She stepped back within his reach. "Likewise, sugar."

This time he pounced, shoving her up against the side of the building a few feet from the front entrance. This was not the man she'd been with last night. This man was just as rough, just as needy as she was now. He didn't wait for her invitation or a protest. He directly went after what he wanted. And what he wanted was her.

There was no hesitation in the way his body moved against hers. Not a moment of doubt in the kisses, in the tongue, in those heavenly lips. Everything he wanted he went after with straight, neat precision. Rogue was dizzy. Her head was spinning as her body responded to every touch, every lick, every kiss. She felt as though she was on fire, needing the rain to balance out the flames that he kept fanning.

Not once had she ever felt like this.

She could feel him hot, hard, ready; pressing firmly against her stomach. Their height difference kept his erection in the wrong place. God, how she wanted him lower. And he'd said she was the tease. She wrapped a leg around his, trying in vain to get her pelvis to line up with his. She rubbed herself against him, trying to get higher. A low moan reverberated through his chest as Gambit moved his hands down her body and over her thighs. Never had she felt so bold.

Without any warning, he hiked her skirt up with his hands. Her exposed thighs were pelted by rain drops, adding a contradictory feeling to the heat radiating off his finger tips. As his hands inched up to her most private place, she moaned in approval. She had never wanted anything so badly in her life. She had never been this type of girl. Never. Yet here she was, in the middle of the day, writhing against a man in the front of their building. Anyone could come along and see them...and she didn't care. All that mattered was him, her and the need to do something stupid, something irresponsible, something so out of character for her.

His fingers pulled aside the crotch of her panties and Rogue, unable to help herself, arched her hips towards him in eager anticipation. She'd never be able to explain the desire that had consumed her entire being in this exact moment. She wanted to blame it all on him, looking the way he did and waiting for her in the rain, but she knew he wasn't at fault. He had simply been the catalyst for a girl desperately needing some form of escape.

Time itself froze as he began to softly stroke her most delicate parts. Not even in her wildest dreams had she been able to fathom exactly what this felt like. 'Good' was too mild a word, and 'fantastic' just wasn't fantastic enough.

"Oh my God," she breathed in between hard, vicious kisses. Everything with him was a contradiction. How his tongue could move so violently, while his fingers so soft, amazed and excited her. With each definite stroke of his fingers, strings of pleasure zipped through her entire body. With each flick of his tongue, a passion ignited from her very core, like the sparking of a lighter. It was incredible and she couldn't help but want more.

She was nearly undone when Gambit's mouth nipped and bit its way down her neck, every few inches licking her with his tongue. Her hands moved of their own accord as one hand grabbed his head. Her fingers dug into his hair sharply and he moaned in pleasure. Her other hand was around his waist in seconds, yanking the small of his back towards her with a force that would have scared her had she not felt so incredibly good. His body pressed into his hand, which in turn pressed roughly into her as his fingers kept dancing upon her delicate folds. The pressure made her cry out against the rain.

Every inch of her body thrummed with excruciating bliss, wanting...no, _needing_ more and more. She ground her hips into his hand, rubbing up against his fingers to meet the delightful friction that had her craving each flick of his fingers. She could feel the sensation mounting, higher and higher, each stroke adding to the peak until she thought she would explode. And she wanted to. God, she wanted to. She wanted this intense feeling to erupt through her entire being and give her the satisfaction and release she vividly yearned for.

He increased his speed and pressure, honing in on the small bud of pleasure hidden within her. Rogue cried out again, sure she was going mad with want. She was borderline begging him now, needing her release. Never had she experienced anything so intense in her life. She officially lost control over her vocal chords, moaning, sighing and even whispering the word 'yes' over and over again.

Suddenly she saw stars. The cosmos had aligned and everything in the world was perfect. Her body erupted with the most gratifying orgasm. She shivered against his now slowed fingers. She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. In one blissful moment, he wasn't one of the bad guys and she wasn't a double agent. Instead, they were lovers.

She tipped her head back against the cool building. She was soaked to the bone. This realization made her shiver. Gambit's mouth returned to hers. His fingers pulled away from her, and she whimpered in protest. She was finished, exhausted, but her body still cried out for more. She still wanted to be connected to him.

He jerked her up by the hips and held her up against the wall, finally erasing their gap in height. Her legs wrapped immediately around his waist. Even through his cold, rain soaked pants, she could feel the heat of him up against her. He was hard and he was perfect. His bulge nestled nicely against her crotch, which had begun to hum again in a needy, wanton tune.

He pulled his lips from hers, so he could meet her eyes. "If it wasn't for that damn hungry look in your eyes, I'd have thought I'd tamed you by now."

She shook her head slightly. "As satisfying as that was, it'll take more than that to domesticate me."

He groaned, nestling his face into her neck as though she was killing him. She felt him tense up in restraint. "I don't have a condom out here," he admitted.

Rogue was about to say she didn't care, a sentiment that scared the hell out of her for way too many reasons. None of which she felt like exploring right now. All she knew was that she had officially snapped and gone off the deep end.

There was no other explanation. She had lost her mind.

Thankfully, Gambit seemed to be in his right mind, and rather responsibly held back. For how long, Rogue didn't know. She could read the desire in his eyes and feel the hot need of him pressing into her. It would be so easy to continue on, tempting him into recklessness and pleasure. All she needed to do was continue with what she'd already been doing. Against all her better judgement, she tested the waters and slowly rubbed her pelvis up against him. Inviting. Teasing.

He sighed. Whether it was in pleasure or regret, Rogue couldn't tell.

"You're killing me, ma cherie."

It was then, and only then, that Rogue knew if she pulled away from him now, her common sense would kick in. Her body would begin to listen to her brain again and this moment in the rain would be gone. She had lapsed in her judgement and Gambit seemed to sense it too. Inside the building, back in his room, there were condoms, but this moment would never make it there. Both were aware of that.

They had gotten caught in a moment. A quick fleeting thing, something that never should have happened. Rogue could almost taste the bitterness of regret in her mouth as her mind slowly gained control.

She had no idea how to explain her actions or how she should react to Gambit. Suddenly, she felt awkward and nervous. What had she done? She needed to get out of here.

Her mind was racing with lame excuses when the front door opened. Both she and Gambit turned in the direction of the door, still in a lover's embrace. A very intimate lover's embrace that Rogue was suddenly painfully aware of. Gambit had her shoved up against the wall with her legs wrapped around his waist and his hands up her skirt. Did they look guilty? Yes.

"Gam—Oh!" Jean-Paul exclaimed, more than startled to see them, and more than surprised to see them like this. The poor man couldn't seem to close his mouth. "Uh..."

"What do you want, Jean-Paul?" Gambit growled. His displeasure at being interrupted rang through as clear as a bell. "As you can very well see, I'm kinda busy right now."

Colour rose to Rogue's cheeks as Gambit made no effort to pull away from her and make their pose less compromising. Part of her appreciated his confidence and the fact that he didn't immediately deny what had been going on out here, but the other part of her was absolutely mortified. Thank God, it was Jean-Paul who had come outside and not one of the other mercs.

Jean-Paul quickly regained his composure. "Head office is on the line for you. They say it's urgent."

Rogue caught Gambit roll his eyes before he scowled in contempt. He pulled himself away from her and Rogue quickly let him, her face now beet red. She'd never be able to make eye contact with him again, knowing what she'd allowed him to do to her and where she had allowed him to go.

"Perhaps another time, chere," he murmured in her ear before he effortlessly slipped past Jean-Paul and into the base.

Jean-Paul never said a word. He stared at Rogue, his eyes wide and twinkling. He was just itching to say something, she just knew it. Still he refrained. Rogue appreciated it. She was feeling rather ashamed of herself and horrified by her behaviour. She was at a loss as to what had come over her. She was better than this.

It was this job.

It was getting to her.

"I need a towel," she said stupidly after several quiet minutes, staring back at Jean-Paul.

She had expected some clever quip, some sort of gossip worthy comment from Jean-Paul, but he merely nodded and answered, "Yep. You'll catch your death out here."

Maybe she was just paranoid and little too humiliated, but she couldn't help but read into Jean-Paul's comment. A double entendre? A healthy warning about getting involved with Gambit? Or maybe, it was nothing but a simple common expression. Needless to say, Jean-Paul eagerly followed her upstairs and through her room to the bathroom.

Once in private, the silence dam on Jean-Paul broke. "Oh my God! Tell me everything! Details!" His hands flittered about excitedly as Rogue pulled a towel from the cupboard.

"What's to tell?" she mumbled. "I've officially lost my mind."

"What happened with Warren?" Northstar asked eagerly and rather tactically. Rogue had half expected him to broach what she had been doing with Gambit first.

"Nothing," Rogue answered.

"Ah," Northstar answered knowingly.

Rogue frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No attraction to Warren."

Rogue sighed, towelling off her hair. "It's not that...it's just, well, what was I supposed to do? _He_ was _outside in the rain_ waiting for me."

Jean-Paul laughed. "Sweetie, I hate to tell you this, but he wasn't outside waiting for you."

Rogue pulled the towel from her head so she could see Jean-Paul's face. "What?"

"Gambit hangs out on the front steps all the time when it rains. I think he goes out there to clear his head, maybe even for the peace and quiet. I don't know, but as soon as the first drops of rain fall, he's out there like clockwork."

Rogue paled as dread filled her to the brim. Gambit hadn't been waiting for her at all. He had just been outside and she had...she had...well, she already knew exactly what she had done with him. She had started things up again.

She buried her face in her hands in mortification and groaned. "What is wrong with me? I just _jumped_ him for no reason!"

Jean-Paul laughed even harder. "Nothing is wrong with you. You just fell for the bad boy instead of the good boy."

"Ugh," Rogue moaned. She could not be falling for Gambit. She could absolutely not! Attracted? Yes. Falling for him? A big no!

Jean-Paul patted her on the shoulder. "You aren't the first girl to fall for a bad boy, and I'm sure you won't be the last. It's just a shame things didn't click with Warren. That would have been fabulous. Can you even imagine the places he'd take you?"

Rogue heaved another sigh. "It wasn't that we didn't click, it's just—"

"He's boring in comparison to Gambit," Jean-Paul finished.

"Exactly!" Rogue exclaimed, surprised just how well Jean-Paul seemed to understand. Sure, she wasn't attracted to Angel to begin with, she never had been, but it was because she often found him quite dull. As a friend, he was fine, but as anything more? Rogue could never picture it. Gambit, on the other hand, was a walking version of her ideal man compared to Warren.

That was a sobering thought. Rogue had always prided herself as being a strong, self-assured female. She was rather concerned that she wasn't attracted to a man who was more respectable and upstanding. By all accounts she _should_ be attracted to Warren. She was one of the good guys. She was supposed to like a good man. Instead, she was crushing hard on Gambit.

She wished she could pinpoint exactly what it was about Gambit that made her feel so giddy, so weak in the knees.

"So you jumped him?" Jean-Paul asked wickedly, not missing a beat.

Rogue blushed. "Yeah."

Jean-Paul gave a slow whistle. "Pretty bold."

"You mean pretty stupid."

Jean-Paul shrugged. "From my stand point, you boinking Gambit may be beneficial to me in the long run."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "We weren't _boinking_."

"So you keep saying. Had I not have interrupted, you might have been."

"And besides," Rogue continued. "I don't see how me being with Gambit helps you."

"Might mellow him out a bit."

Rogue couldn't help but laugh. If anyone was wound up tighter than her around here, it was Gambit. She stopped laughing when a thought hit her. Jean-Paul's answer could change everything for her.

"Has he ever hurt you?" she asked hesitantly.

It was no secret that Jean-Paul was afraid of Gambit, and after what happened in the kitchen earlier with Longshot and Cortez, Rogue was worried about what sort of threats or injuries Jean-Paul had endured from him.

Jean-Paul shook his head. "No. I've done my best to stay out of his way and do what he orders." He crossed his arms in a shiver. "What you saw today wasn't even his worst. When he gets in one of his moods..."

"But he's never done anything to you?" Rogue re-itinerated.

"Nothing but scare the living daylights outta me."

Rogue let out a relieved sigh. She wasn't sure she could handle her attraction to Gambit if he had ever done anything awful to Jean-Paul. That she could look past his behaviour towards the other mercs was disturbing enough.

Talking with Jean-Paul brought up Rogue's earlier thoughts concerning Gambit's motives with Jean-Paul. He'd saved his life, and it was now confirmed that he had also never harmed him. It made Rogue wonder. Something felt off about the whole thing.

"What about the other mercs?" Rogue asked.

"Everyone has had a run in with him, except Andrea." He shrugged. "I've never seen him hit a woman. Guess he draws the line somewhere." Jean-Paul scowled. "Not that Andrea hasn't deserved a good smack."

Rogue nodded in agreement, Andrea did need a good smack. Preferably from another woman, namely Rogue. Fortunately, Rogue hadn't had a whole lot of encounters with the twins yet, and she hoped to keep it that way. Should the opportunity to slap Andrea present itself though, Rogue wasn't going to hesitate. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Knowing she could fight Andrea and feel very little remorse either said a lot about Andrea or a lot about Rogue.

She sighed.

Damn, this job was getting to her.


	14. Chapter 14

The next few days were uneventful. Rogue wasn't sure what to make of her situation. She'd been here for almost three weeks, and instead of finding answers and evidence, she had found nothing but more questions and riddles.

Gambit deliberately kept his distance from her. For her sake or his own, Rogue wasn't sure. It had the opposite effect for Rogue. It only made her want him more. Suddenly he was acting all off-limits and that only added to his appeal. He was something she couldn't have.

_Shouldn't want to have_, she reminded herself, not that it did any good. Every time she turned around, she noticed something even more fascinating or mysterious about him. She was positive he was hiding his own agenda. Things about him just didn't add up if he was really the big, bad, mercenary he claimed to be.

For instance, she noticed something very peculiar about how Gambit gave Jean-Paul his pills. Right from the moment he had given Jean-Paul the first one, none of the other mercs had been present except her. Gambit seemed to deliberately give the dosage in private, or at least semi-private, since she was there.

Why would it matter to Gambit if the other mercs knew about Jean-Paul? Maybe they already did. Rogue had been circling her thoughts around the whole situation for a few days now. Why would Gambit give Jean-Paul the pills in private? Did he not want the others to know he was helping? And if so, why would it matter if he was following MRD orders to keep Jean-Paul from harming himself? It didn't make sense. Rogue knew the only person that could answer that for her was Gambit. And he had conveniently been avoiding her the past few days.

Just like so many other things, she wasn't sure how she felt about Gambit's avoidance. The spy in her knew that it was for the best. She should not be involving herself with a man who left more questions than answers. Distancing herself from him had been her main goal ever since she'd accidentally been caught in his bedroom.

Somehow, that had changed. Gambit had managed to impact her in a way she wasn't used to. She had never been in a situation where she had been attracted to the one of the enemies. It made things difficult. Ever since she'd pounced him in the rain, he looked absolutely sinful to her. Like a decadent, rich dessert with far too many calories. She couldn't help but feel a little miffed and a bit upset about his sudden rejection. It left her feeling moody and guilty, as if she had done something wrong.

Like Gambit had been avoiding her, she had been avoiding Logan. She hadn't met with Angel, partly because he hadn't contacted her, and partly because she didn't want to. She had nothing to report back to her team, and Angel could only filter her progress to Logan for so long before Logan himself got involved and met with her. She was dreading it.

She had never failed a mission for Logan yet, and she didn't want to. She'd never received any praise for her previous successful missions, so she wasn't looking forward to what would happen if she failed. Logan was always quick to criticize, even when she had completed a mission flawlessly. She could only image what he'd say if she failed.

She sat at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee, trying to take the edge off and settle her nerves. There was no point worrying herself over what Logan would do if she failed, because it hadn't happened yet.

She needed sleep. She hadn't slept properly for days. Not since her physical fling with Gambit.

Her dreams were haunted, restless. Sometimes she was drowning in a cold, black sea with Logan standing over her within arm's reach to help, but yelling at her instead. Other nights, she licked honey from Gambit's bronze skin as he skimmed his long, talented finger along her spine. She could never see his face. It was always adorned by elaborate, and sometimes creepy, masquerade masks. More disturbing was that sometimes she wore one as well.

Then there were the dreams of Jean-Paul, cold and lifeless. A corpse she'd failed to protect. And Angel haunted her nights as well; discovered, humiliated and shackled to a laboratory table while the von Strucker twins cackled above him. In those dreams, she was always too late to save her friends. They trusted her and she had let them down.

She knew the dreams were from the stress and pressure she was under, she didn't need a therapist to tell her that. She just wished they weren't so damn vivid and disturbing.

The kitchen door opened and Gambit entered the room. His eyes met hers and he looked startled to see her. It was the first time in days he'd allowed himself to be alone with her. Rogue thought he was going to turn around and walk right back out the door. It looked as if he'd been contemplating it. Instead, he made brief eye contact before coldly turning his back on her and walking to the fridge.

Wow. That was a little abrasive and uncalled for. She couldn't help but be offended. After the way she had touched him and had let _him_ touch _her_, she couldn't and wouldn't sit by and let him act as if she was nothing or that nothing had happened between them.

"Nice to see you too," she snipped caustically.

She swore his shoulders slumped and he heaved a sigh. "It's not that I..." He stopped, thinking of whether he should share his thoughts.

"I get it," she replied just as coldly as his behaviour. "I was a once off. No big deal. I'm sure you do it all the time." She knew her words weren't true, she had seen his mind and that was hardly the case, but she was angry. Not specifically with him, but more so with herself for getting into this mess in the first place.

He whirled around so fast that Rogue flinched. His eyes blazed a fiery red, fierce and angry. He stalked towards her with the precision of a predator. He stood before her across the table and slammed his palms down, leaning towards her. Rogue defied his dominance and straightened her back, rather than shirking away like any of the other mercs would.

"I want you in ways you can't even imagine," he snarled. "Don't mistake that, chere."

It would have sounded incredibly romantic had he not sounded so vicious and angry. So why was she suddenly aroused at words that sounded more like a threat than an endearment?

Before she even realized what she was doing, she leaned towards him. "Then come and get me."

He leaned forward and snaked out his hand, making a grab for her hair. Rogue was quicker. Anger fuelled her actions as she kicked her legs up under the table with all her might and pushed against the wood. The table knocked forward and effectively toppled over onto Gambit. He fell to floor with a startled and angry curse. Rogue got up from her chair and stood over him.

"I'm not that easy anymore," she stated with a dangerous edge to her voice before she turned and exited the room. She vowed to never throw herself at him again. It was desperate and needy, two things she wasn't.

Rogue thought she'd feel better after asserting herself, but she didn't. She'd never been one to take things to the extreme like that. She'd kicked over a table for crying out loud! God, now she was turning into Logan. What was the matter with her? She had now just royally pissed off the man who decided whether or not her life here was going to be a living hell. Gambit could easily make things very unpleasant for her.

She almost contemplated walking back into the kitchen and apologizing. In fact, she was surprised that Gambit hadn't come after her in all his violent glory.

A smarmy sort of snicker caught her attention, and Rogue turned to see Andreas lurking in the corner outside the kitchen door.

"Lover's quarrel?" he quipped while leering at her breasts for the zillionth time since she'd been here.

Rogue's lip curled in disgust. "Like I'd tell you."

"I've always appreciated a woman who could hold her own."

"I'll bet," she replied sarcastically.

"I like to break them. Make them beg. Make them scream."

Rogue rolled her eyes. She was so not in the mood for this. She casually stripped the glove from her right hand. "I'd like to see you try."

Fear flashed through his eyes and Rogue found herself returning his creepy smile. It slowly spread across her face and felt surprisingly good. She was the one in control. Andreas couldn't lay a hand on her, even if he really wanted to. And Rogue suspected he really wanted to.

She advanced towards him and he shirked back. "That's what I thought." She sneered as Andreas scampered away. She could almost see him whimpering to Andrea. And sure enough, seconds later, Andreas reappeared with Andrea in tow.

Andrea was opening her mouth to most likely shriek at Rogue when Jean-Paul made his way down the stairs. Instead, the nasty glint in her eye turned towards Jean-Paul, who was dressed smartly in a dark suit and tie, carrying a bouquet of vibrant yellow flowers.

"How lovely to adorn an empty grave with buttercups." Andrea smirked. "It's not like Aurora's body is rotting in that coffin to even appreciate the gesture."

Rogue opened her mouth to say something, when she heard Gambit speak up behind her.

"Have some respect for the dead, Andrea."

"Yeah, you callous bitch," Longshot added, descending the staircase after Jean-Paul. "Don't forget it should have been you."

Jean-Paul cleared his throat, seemingly unaffected by Andrea's words or Gambit's and Longshot's. "If you'll excuse me." He brushed past the twins and towards Rogue. "I'll be back in a few hours," he whispered to her before he went out the door.

Rogue didn't realize that today was the anniversary of Jean-Paul's sister's death. It wasn't like anyone had confided the date in her, not even Jean-Paul. After the exchange of words, Rogue felt like an outsider more than ever. Everyone seemed to have known Jeanne-Marie but her. From what Longshot had said, it sounded as if Jeanne-Marie had died instead of Andrea.

More questions.

Without meaning to, she glanced at Gambit. He nudged his head in the direction of the staircase before he silently went upstairs himself. Had that been an invitation to follow? Rogue wasn't sure. She also wasn't sure if Gambit would even answer her questions after what had transpired between them in the kitchen. Rogue cringed. Maybe that was why he wanted her to follow him. To chastise her or punish her in some way. Hell, she pretty much deserved whatever he had coming. She had no right to kick a table onto him just because he no longer appeared interested in her.

Rogue swallowed hard. She needed answers and she knew who had them. Without giving it another thought, she headed up the staircase after Gambit.

His door was open and Rogue boldly stood in the doorway. Sure, she had sort of been in the wrong, but she wasn't going to act all meek and submissive near him. She refused to give him any more power over than she already had.

He was lounging on his bed in such a way that it immediately reminded her of the way lions sun themselves on the savannah. He looked calm and laidback, even friendly, but there was no mistaking that a predator lurked beneath.

She rapped on the doorframe, more for politeness than to make herself known. He already knew that she was there. It wouldn't hurt to show him that she had regained her composure.

"Come in." He gestured with a wispy hand gesture. "Close the door behind you."

Did she detect a threat in his voice, or had she just imagined that? She didn't doubt he was angry with her—it was just a matter of figuring out how angry.

Keeping her back straight and her posture confident, she entered his room and closed the door behind her. Just to show him how unafraid of him she was, and to maybe prove it to herself, she locked the door.

He'd noticed and raised his eyebrows. "Going to cage me in, chere?"

"No," she answered warily. "I just don't imagine you want any disturbances."

He sat up just as quickly as a lion would if a gazelle came in its midst. "Nobody comes in here unless I want them to."

"Or unless I feel like it," she added. Lord, help her, but there was just something about him that made her want to constantly bait him. Now wasn't the time to be goading his anger, but she couldn't seem to help it. Perhaps it was his haughtiness and conceit.

His eyes darkened as something passed through them. Rogue couldn't quite decide what though. He stood up abruptly, and Rogue took a step backwards. She hated it when he caught her off guard like that.

"That's a nice ring on your finger," he commented pleasantly with just a hint of edginess to his voice. "No doubt a love token from _him_."

The way he said '_him_' was filled with utter contempt. Gambit was so up in arms that he couldn't even bring himself to say Warren's name. There was no mistaking his jealousy.

Rogue glanced down at her emerald ring. "It's a _gift_," she answered stiffly. "And it's awfully late for you to be bringing it up now. It's been days."

"I was busy," he replied hotly.

"What does it matter to you anyway?" she asked. It wasn't like Gambit had made any effort to declare his feelings for her, and last time Rogue had mentally checked, he definitely had feelings for her. "If ignoring me and pretending I don't exist are any indication—"

"I want you," he said again. This time there was no anger or malice in his words, but a soft longing that echoed through his voice. "I can't think of anything else but you."

Rogue softened a bit. It was a little flattering to know that he thought of her constantly. It wasn't everyday that someone said _that_ to her. His adorableness was creeping back in, and Rogue immediately pictured him with his 'aw shucks' smile and white t-shirt and muddy jeans. Damn, things would be so much easier if she hadn't seen that stupid gardening picture of him. It was then that she realized he had excused her behaviour in the kitchen. She wondered if that was a first for him—not dishing out punishment.

"I hate the idea of you being with him." Gambit's face contorted to anger. "It makes me sick to think of his hands on you, touching you..." His voice trailed off as though he couldn't bear to continue on talking about it.

Rogue raised her eyebrows. Wow. He'd been giving her date with Warren a lot of thought. Maybe too much, and maybe with more melodrama than necessary. It was hard to remember that from Gambit's point of view, she and Warren were not just friends, but potential lovers. It was also hard to remember that Gambit was floundering around inside his head trying to understand his feelings for her. She doubted that he had ever fallen for anyone before.

"We just had lunch, talked. That's all." She moved forward until she stood directly in front of him. Obviously some reassurance was in order. "Warren may want me, but I thought I'd made it pretty clear who it was I wanted." She tipped her head up to kiss him.

He stepped back and out of her reach before their lips met.

"I can't," he whispered.

"You've got some nerve," Rogue snapped, quickly infuriated by his behaviour. His words and actions did not agree with each other. It was frustrating beyond belief and Rogue had never been one for games.

"It's not that I don't want to," Gambit began. "It's that I've been given a direct order not to."

Rogue's jaw dropped. "The MRD _ordered_ you to stay away from me?" She was appalled. What business did they have in who Gambit saw? And secondly, _how_ did they know? A sudden horror crept over her skin. What if the MRD was watching their every move at the base? They would know that Rogue had been snooping in Gambit's room...

Gambit looked miserable. "Sure."

It was an odd answer to give. It didn't quite answer whether or not the MRD had ordered it or not. But if he hadn't been ordered by the MRD, then who? Rogue made a mental note of it. It was almost as if he was just letting her believe what she wanted to.

"How did they find out about...us?" she asked carefully. She wasn't sure how to define their relationship, but it was a question that needed to be asked. If Rogue had been caught on film or something acting suspiciously, she would be in a whole lot of trouble.

"How do you think?" Gambit answered with an annoyed sigh.

Rogue's stomach churned. They knew...the MRD knew she was a spy, and it was all over now. It was probably the reason she was called by Gambit to speak in private. Rogue wasn't about to admit to spying or snooping until she was actually confronted with the evidence, and even then, she'd probably deny it. No wonder they didn't want Gambit involved with her.

When she refused to give an answer, Gambit continued to speak, "Mid-afternoon in the front of the building isn't all that inconspicuous, even during a storm. Why do think that phone call was so urgent?"

Rogue closed her eyes in relief and let out the breath she'd been holding. She hadn't been caught snooping. Just with her arms around Gambit and her skirt up.

Gambit frowned at her response. He'd definitely caught her relieved expression. "What? You thought they had cameras hidden in the house?" He chuckled. "Don't worry, ma cherie, I'm the only one privileged enough to see your breasts."

Rogue silently thanked her lucky stars that Gambit hadn't suspected her of anything other than being modest.

"What does it matter to the MRD who you..." _See? Date? Sleep with? _Again, she was at a loss as to how to identify what they were to each other.

Fortunately Gambit picked up on what she was trying to ask. "The MRD don't care one way or the other who I involve myself with. Unless it's you."

"Why?" Rogue asked, aghast. What was wrong with her? Was there some sort of protocol about him technically being her boss? She knew that was frowned upon in normal workplaces, but here? It seemed rather contrite.

"Because they want Warren Junior's support," Gambit answered as if the answer was the most obvious in the world. "They have been trying for years to get him to back the MRD with no such luck. Until you came along, the man was a ghost in terms of contact. This is the first, and probably only, chance they have to win his favour."

Rogue seriously doubted that. Warren would never support the MRD. As a vigilante and an X-man, he fully supported the demise of the MRD and their affiliates.

Gambit continued, "They don't want me..._distracting_ you from Warren."

Rogue couldn't help but sense that Gambit had chosen his words very carefully.

"I see," she answered.

"Personally, I think the whole thing is in vain," Gambit admitted.

Rogue's heart did a quick little pitter patter. He seemed so sure of himself, and so confident that she was his. He'd finally realized that he had very little to be jealous of.

"Warren is never going to join the MRD or support it," he spoke with absolute conviction. "It won't matter what you do."

And as quickly as her heart had done flip flops, it sunk. She had nothing to do with Gambit's assurance that Warren would never join the MRD. She really had to learn to stop assuming things with him.

"And why do you think that?" she asked.

"Because, chere, he's a mutant and an X-man."


	15. Chapter 15

Rogue rolled her eyes in disgust. "You're not still on about that are you?"

Gambit's eyes widened in disbelief. "You can't seriously believe that he's not."

Rogue geared up for an argument. She absolutely had to convince Gambit that he was wrong. Angel needed her to protect his secret now more than ever. It didn't matter that Gambit's suspicions about Angel were right on the money. What mattered was keeping Angel safe.

Rogue may have been beginning to believe that Gambit wasn't exactly who he appeared to be, but that didn't mean that she knew who he was. For all she knew, he could be something worse than just an MRD mercenary. She shuddered inwardly. There was so much she didn't know about him. She really shouldn't be attracted to someone like him at all. Her mind had been whispering warnings about him from day one.

Nothing good ever came to a girl who ignored her gut feelings. There was definitely something off about Gambit, and before she pursued things any further with him, she needed to discover what it was.

But first things first.

Angel.

"I had lunch with the man. I sat in close quarters with him. Not once did I ever think that he was like us," Rogue answered. "I'm telling you, he's not a mutant."

"There is an X-man that flies around the city with giant, bird-like wings. That feather fell from Warren Junior's coat," Gambit argued.

Rogue scoffed in disbelief. "That could have come from anywhere."

"Oh? Then tell me, chere, why does he wear all them long coats all the time?" he asked. "It's to hide wings."

"It's a _fashion statement_," Rogue pressed. "Geez, you'd think you'd never looked at the cover of GQ before. Finding a feather and a sense of fashion do not make someone a mutant."

"Fine," Gambit bit tensely. "Give me back that feather and I'll have it analyzed in the lab."

Rogue frowned in confusion. "What do you mean 'give it back'? I gave it to you before I left for that lunch date."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did." Rogue insisted. "Why the hell would I keep that disgusting thing?"

"It's not disgusting," Gambit answered, briefly sidetracked. "It's just a feather."

"Yeah, from a bird. Who knows what sort of germs or diseases were on that thing?"

"You never gave it back to me, chere. I'm sure of it."

She shrugged. "Then I don't know where it went. I don't have it."

"You lost it?" Gambit asked, aghast. "That was evidence!"

Rogue gave a derisive snort. "It was a _feather_. And I didn't lose it. I gave it back to you."

"No, you didn't," he argued.

"Well, again, I don't have it," Rogue replied back in annoyance.

Gambit looked a bit panicked. "Maybe it fell on the floor in your room."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you can go check if you like."

Gambit shot through the bathroom towards her room before Rogue had even finished her sentence. He had become increasingly frantic over the lost feather. No doubt it was because he was starting to doubt whether or not he had gotten it back from her in the first place. Rogue had managed to plant the seeds of doubt successfully in his mind by adamantly arguing that she had given the feather back to him.

Now he was wondering if he had been the one to lose it.

It was mean to lie to Gambit and insist she had given the feather back to him when she knew full well that she hadn't, but in order to protect Angel, it was necessary. Gambit couldn't be angry with her for a losing a feather that he now wasn't fully sure she had lost to begin with. It was all about keeping her ass covered.

She had suspected that the feather would be used in some sort of DNA testing and she had been right. She was thankful that the feather had been returned to Warren. His secret was safe for now, as long as she had Gambit preoccupied with trying to find a feather that he wouldn't find.

She followed Gambit to her room, and felt a bit guilty as she watched him search her floor. Coming up empty handed, he brushed past her and went to check his own room. She suspected that he already knew it wasn't in his room. There weren't a whole lot of places it could go in Gambit's room without being quickly found.

Still, Gambit dropped down on his hands and knees to search his stark, bare floor. After several more minutes of watching Gambit search, Rogue had had enough.

"If it means that much to you, I'll find out if he's a mutant." Rogue gave an exasperated sigh. "I mean if he likes me that much, I'm sure it won't be hard to get his clothes off—"

"No!" Gambit cried a little too adamantly, tearing his eyes in horror from the ground to meet hers.

Rogue raised her eyebrows. She had to keep her smile inward. He'd given her just the reaction she'd hoped for. With the feather gone, there was one sure way for Gambit to find out if Warren was really a mutant.

And it was through her.

A direction Gambit was not willing to go. He'd already made it clear that he hated thinking of her with Warren. For her to even suggest getting intimate with Warren to help Gambit discover if Warren was a mutant was absolutely unheard of him. If Rogue was lucky, it would be just the blow Gambit needed to abandon his interest in the whole matter.

"I don't need you to prove it," Gambit began, regaining some of his composure. He was still on his knees, staring up at her. He shuffled closer. "The only reason I care, is because of you."

"Me?" Rogue asked, startled.

He pulled his arms around her legs and pressed his face softly against her stomach. It was a much too intimate pose for the conversation they'd previously had. One minute, Gambit was pushing her away because of his orders, the next he was drawing her near. The man couldn't last five seconds with contradicting himself.

It was how Rogue knew she was winning this argument. She had no doubts that after today, Gambit wouldn't bother following up on Warren's mutant status.

"Oui, you," he answered softly. "Do you think I care personally one or way or the other concerning Warren Junior's mutant status?"

"Wouldn't the MRD—"

He cut her off gently. "I only care about your safety, ma cherie."

He inhaled deeply, nuzzling his head into her shirt as though there was nothing he enjoyed more than the scent of her. Her body began to hum again in eager anticipation. It never ceased to amaze her, how just the simplest touch from him could drive her body crazy.

"I hardly think I'm in any danger from Warren Junior." She could barely get the words out. She wanted nothing more than to sink to her knees and meet Gambit's mouth for a kiss.

Gambit tipped his head up. "Are you aware of who commands the X-men now?"

It was an odd question. Rogue decided to play dumb and shake her head 'no'.

"Wolverine," he answered.

"Who?" she asked.

"The mutant who attacked us the night we stole the prototype."

"Oh."

"He's a dangerous mutant. One who has a very deserved reputation for being ruthless," Gambit replied in a stern, serious voice.

Funny, Rogue could have said the same about Gambit.

"He used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D, you know," Gambit continued. "He is not a man to mess with."

"I know," Rogue whispered. In fact, she knew better than Gambit.

Gambit's sharp, stern eyes bore into hers. "If Warren is an X-man, and I more than suspect that he is, then you are in danger. There is no way Wolverine would allow one of his to consort with an MRD agent unless there was an ulterior motive. They are vigilantes, and will stop at nothing to bring down the MRD. To them, it won't matter if you are caught in the crossfire."

Rogue could only nod in agreement. It was astounding just how well Gambit had Wolverine pegged. A lump had formed in her throat. Logan would never tolerate her ridiculous crush on Gambit. It was almost a cruel irony to have the man she so desperately craved be the one to remind her of exactly who Logan was and how he would react if he ever found out that Rogue was sympathizing with the enemy.

A cold shiver washed down her spine. She suddenly felt like Logan was watching her right this very instant. She moved to pull away from Gambit's grasp. He held her tighter.

"No one would stand my fury should something happen to you, Anna."

Rogue's mouth went dry at his words. No one ever called her by her birth name. At first, she wondered how he even knew what her name was. Then she remembered that Gambit had not only read her file, but he'd also been right beside her at the benefit when she had 'introduced' herself to Warren. Gambit was dead serious. For him to use her real name, he would have to be. He really would be an unstoppable force of vengeance and destruction if something were ever to happen to her.

Not once had anyone declared such a thing to her, and she'd only know him less than three weeks. He certainly wasn't helping in keeping her mind off of him. He was actually making things worse. Rogue had never had anyone care for her the way Gambit seemed to, and to actually vocalize it? Well, that was the icing on the cake.

Consequences be damned, Rogue found herself sinking to her knees to meet Gambit's lips. She felt him hesitate for the briefest moment before he kissed her. Just like her, Gambit seemed unable to stop himself from pursuing a kiss. In the back of both their minds were all the reasons that they shouldn't be doing this. Rogue was an X-man, Gambit had been ordered to stay away, yet both couldn't seem to stop seeking the other out.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Gambit whispered, his voice hoarse.

"I don't care," she answered, throwing his typical answer back at him.

With a groan that bordered a growl, Gambit shoved her roughly to the ground. She willingly complied as his weight pressed against her. He moved over her in a desperate frenzy that Rogue found herself matching.

His hands slid towards her breasts. Before Rogue could even blink, he pulled her top, ripping it open. Buttons scattered and shot in all directions, softly pinging against the floor. He worked the clasp of her bra open so quickly, that her breasts spilled from the cups the moment he'd undone the fabric.

Gambit wasted no time honing in on a nipple. Rogue moaned, running her hand through his hair. Warmth spread through her body, ignited by his touch. For the umpteenth time in days, her body wanted him. She responded to him in ways she'd never with anyone. His mouth moved back up to her in a rough, needy kiss. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, needing to be closer to this man.

It was then that he pulled away, resting his weight on his arms. "You need to go, chere."

Startled, she looked up at him. "What?"

"I am this close to taking you right here on the floor."

"So?"

Gambit stifled a laugh. "So, I need this job, and I assume that you also need this job."

"Stupid MRD," she muttered.

Gambit slowly pulled himself off of her. He held out his hand for her. She grasped it tightly as he pulled her up from the ground. Still holding her hand, he pulled her close and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You really need to go now."

Rogue glanced down at her now tattered shirt. "You owe me a new blouse."

Gambit only nodded as a slight smirk spread across his lips.

He let her go, and she headed towards the bathroom. It wasn't until she reached the door that she remembered why she had come to his room in the first place. She had come to get answers. Instead, she had been busy making out and groping the man.

She turned back to face him. "Gambit?"

He met her eyes. "Oui, ma cherie?"

Rogue hesitated. Maybe now wasn't the time to ask, she had just been all over the guy and this could easily be taken out of context. "What was Jean-Paul's sister like?"

Something flickered in his eyes. Suspicion, maybe? Regret?

"I wouldn't know," he answered after a moment. "She died before I started working here."


	16. Chapter 16

Rogue stayed in her room. After she had left Gambit in his, she heard him in the bathroom. The taps to the shower sprang to life. In the briefest moment of insanity, Rogue debated opening the bathroom door and joining him. Her hand had clutched the door knob for a full two minutes before she pulled her hand away.

Her body didn't seem to want to listen to her mind anymore. She knew all the reasons why she should stay away all too well. Yet, she couldn't seem to help herself. She wanted Gambit. She had never wanted anyone, and certainly never the way she wanted him. She had never allowed herself to want someone in a physical manner.

But she had noticed something startling with her past few encounters with him.

She wasn't having trouble controlling her mutation around him.

In the past, she had never been able to carry on any sort of kiss for very long before her nerves set in and wham! Someone was unconscious. Lately, Gambit was able to get further and further with her. Somehow and somewhere along the line, she had gotten comfortable with him and had stopped over-thinking every little thing. Her body had stopped listening to her mind, and in turn, she had started to grasp better control of her mutation. Her body had gotten bolder in her desires, while her mind had gotten quieter.

Sometimes she even worried that her mind agreed with her body's ridiculous notions concerning Gambit.

Common sense had stopped reigning supreme and that was a dangerous way to be, regardless as to whether or not her control was getting better. Perhaps her control over her mutation was getting better because it was compensating for her lack of control everywhere else.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she slipped out of her ruined top. She tossed the shirt in the trash can and pulled a T-shirt from her drawer. The ripped fabric was now just an unpleasant reminder of what she couldn't have. She heaved a sigh. It really was for the best. She was almost ashamed that she hadn't been the one to stop and that she had been the one lacking self control.

She heard the water stop in the bathroom just before the quick swish of the shower curtain pulled across the rod. Gambit had finished his shower and the temptation to return to the bathroom was maddening. Would he tell her to leave again if she dared to turn the knob?

He had said that he needed this job. She wondered why. It wasn't something she could just ask him. Maybe he had bad credit and was severely in debt. Or maybe, he needed the money to pay for medical treatments for his sick grandmother. Whatever speculation she came up with was probably not the case at all.

He was a mercenary, and by trade they seemed to be greedy, selfish people.

But Gambit didn't appear greedy. Neither did Jean-Paul. In fact, the only mercs that appeared greedy and selfish were the von Strucker twins, and they were already rich.

After spending almost three weeks here, Rogue had learned that the MRD mutants were a very diverse crowd. They didn't fit the mould that Logan had laid out for her in terms of what a mercenary was and what to expect. Nothing in this place seemed to be what she had been led to believe it was.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until early evening that Jean-Paul arrived home. Still dressed in his suit, he came directly to Rogue's room. He looked tired, sad—all the things Rogue expected him to be.<p>

Instead of asking him how he was doing, she instinctively pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in her shoulder and held her tightly, almost the way she would expect a small child to. It had been three years since his sister had died, but the pain hadn't seemed to fade with the years.

Rogue's heart ached for her friend. She didn't have any real family anymore. Logan was the closest thing she'd had to that in a long time. Still, if Logan ever died, she suspected she'd feel just like Jean-Paul.

She and Logan had never been able to see things eye to eye, but they had still managed to form a relationship of sorts. Logan often took on the role of her stern, critical, but caring older brother and she had fit nicely into the role of the tempestuous, stubborn younger sister. Despite all their disagreements and arguments, she never doubted that Logan cared about her the same way she cared about him. They just weren't very good at showing it.

It was funny, until seeing Jean-Paul mourn the loss of his twin, Rogue had sort of forgotten just what she was to Logan. It was easy to forget or think that he didn't care, because Logan always acted like he didn't. It didn't make it true.

Jean-Paul pulled from the hug, and sat down at the end of her bed. He gave a long, exhausted sigh. "I can hardly believe it has already been three years. It seems like just yesterday."

Rogue wasn't sure whether or not she should press Jean-Paul to keep talking. While she was curious beyond belief to know what had happened, it wasn't any of her business and unless Jean-Paul wanted it that way.

"I'm sorry," Rogue answered softly. "I know you really loved her."

"I never deserved a sister like her," Jean-Paul began quietly. His voice took on a lost, far away tone. "She'd still be alive today if I hadn't gotten her involved in the MRD."

Rogue only nodded sympathetically.

Jean-Paul gave a bitter smile. "Aren't you even going to ask what happened? After that scene with Andrea today, I bet you're wondering."

"It's none of my business," Rogue started. "If you don't want to talk about—"

"Oh, but I do," Jean-Paul interrupted. "I've been wanting to talk about it for a long time. Just never knew anyone worth telling." He gave a short laugh. "I almost invited you along today, but I didn't think that would be fair to Jeanne-Marie. You shouldn't be introduced until..." His voice trailed off. "Never mind."

"I'd love to meet your sister when you are ready," Rogue answered.

"You would have liked her. She was the sweetest, most compassionate person I'd ever known. She was a med student, working in medical research when I came and ruined her life. She'd have been doing great things in the world of medical science right now if it hadn't been for me."

"I'm sorry."

Jean-Paul sighed. "Not as sorry as I am. You see, I wasn't a very nice person. Once upon a time; I was selfish, conceited, greedy...you name it. Jeanne-Marie and I were estranged for many years because of it. She was the successful, studious one, and I was the arrogant, waste of space."

"You are not a waste of space, Jean-Paul," Rogue answered sternly.

He shrugged. "You didn't know me back then. A lot has changed since she died." He scratched his chin as if deciding what he wanted to talk about next. "I...I needed money badly. We were Canadians barely getting by on Jeanne-Marie's green card. She'd been selected to study her field in the States, and I felt I was entitled to go along. So I did. I think she was often ashamed to admit I was her brother. In those days, I drank, I partied, I gambled, I spent her money for food and rent on ridiculous impulses. I basically sponged off of her.

We finally had a huge fight when the landlord threatened to evict us for never paying rent on time. Jeanne-Marie screamed at me to leave and that she never wanted to see me again. That I was ruining her life, that she wasn't going to be a failure like me... you know, the truth. We went our separate ways, but I had never been without my twin before. For the first time in my life I was alone, and I didn't like it. Suddenly I felt like I had to make it up to her, like I had to get her back all the money I'd thrown away and then some. I couldn't bear the idea of her hating me forever. Two years later, and not a word spoken between her and I, I found out about the MRD."

Jean-Paul glanced nervously around the room before he dropped his voice down low. Rogue had to lean in to hear him.

"Jeanne-Marie and I were the first mutants to work for the MRD, the von Strucker twins followed. See, the MRD was very interested in mutant twins. In fact, they were so interested, that they refused to even look at mutants who didn't have a twin in the beginning. We never found out why, but then the 'why' didn't matter to me. All I saw was a fat pay check for relatively easy scientific work and testing. I needed Jeanne-Marie to go with me, otherwise, the MRD wouldn't have given me the time of day. When I contacted her, she was hesitant about the whole thing. She said it sounded suspicious, but I convinced, begged, guilt tripped her into joining with me. Jeanne-Marie always did have a hard time telling me 'no'.

We signed away our lives, never bothering to look into the fine print. At first, I honestly believed that what we were doing was going to help mutants in the long run. It wasn't until the MRD started working on its A.I. department that I began to agree with Jeanne-Marie's suspicions. Suddenly, we weren't just test subjects anymore, we were spies, thieves—you name it for the MRD. Our abilities gave us an edge they said, made us better than a human they said. All the while they were building a machine designed to hunt and detect mutants."

Jean-Paul took a deep breath. "My sister and I, along with the von Strucker twins, helped create and perfect the sentinel prowler."

Rogue couldn't help it, she gasped. The sentinel prowlers were the MRD's babies. The machines could detect and track down anyone with mutant DNA in a matter of minutes once they'd been locked on to a target. Since their unveiling almost a year ago, they had made mutant's lives a living hell. As far as she knew, all mutants hated the machines, even the ones that worked for the MRD. She'd had many a run in with the prowlers as an X-man and just as a mutant. They were half the reason that Logan had reformed the X-men.

Jean-Paul cringed. "I know! I know!" he cried in agony. "We didn't know at the time what all the testing and research was for. We didn't realize what we were doing until it was too late. Believe me, had I known then what I know now..."

Rogue gently patted Jean-Paul's arm. "It's all right. I don't blame you, but I can see why you avoid mentioning this to people."

"Jeanne-Marie lost her life because of me. I made her join the MRD with me. She had a life away from me, a good life. It would have been better if I never came back into it." Jean-Paul swallowed hard, blinking back tears. "They tested the first prowler on us, and...Jeanne-Marie didn't make it."

Rogue didn't know what to say. Somehow 'sorry' just didn't seem good enough.

"It was supposed to be tested on the von Strucker twins first, but the MRD...they changed their minds. My sister and I were placed unknowingly in an underground arena. The prowler came at us and...and... Jeanne-Marie told me to run. I think she knew what was going on better than I did. I had no idea we were suddenly guinea pigs until we actually were fighting that damn machine. I thought it was a mistake, a malfunction. I think Jeanne-Marie knew all along what the MRD was doing. I think that was why the MRD changed test subjects."

"Knowing the von Strucker twins, I have a hard time believing that they were oblivious to the MRD's true intentions," Rogue commented dryly.

"Yeah." Jean-Paul sighed. "I guess I'll never really know."

"It wasn't your fault she died."

"He hung his head in sorrow. "Yes, it is. You see, I ran, Rogue. I left her there and I ran. I was so scared that all I could do was run. I let her face that machine on her own because I was too afraid to help her. I'm a coward and because of that my sister is dead."

"I thought you said you were in an arena? You couldn't have run that far from her."

"When I gain enough speed, I can glide in the air. I hid in the rafters at the far end of the arena. All I could think was 'I don't want to die', and meanwhile I left my sister alone."

"She told you to run. She was trying to save you."

"Do you remember when we first met, and I said that twins are generally more powerful mutants together than when apart?"

"Vaguely," Rogue answered. "You were talking about the von Strucker's weakness, how their mutation doesn't work at all unless they touch."

"Well, Jeanne-Marie and I were pretty much unstoppable when we joined hands and combined out mutations. To this day, I know that we would have been able to take down that prowler together had I not have ran."

Rogue sighed. "I'm not sure what to say, Jean-Paul. I know you feel guilty about your sister's death, but I don't think she would want you blaming yourself. What happened wasn't your fault. It was the MRD's. I'm not sure if you can ever believe that, but it's the truth."

"It's kind of you to say, but my heart knows who is at fault. The prowler may have killed her, but I led her to her death."

"Longshot seems to blame Andrea. Very adamantly, I might add," Rogue commented lightly. "When did the MRD start hiring single mutants?"

"Not too long ago. Longshot was working with the MRD when we started, but he's not really a mutant, just a being from another dimension." Jean-Paul gave another long sigh. "At least he never blamed me."

"Why would he?" Rogue asked a little upset. What business did Longshot have in this tragedy?

"He was sweet on Jeanne-Marie. I don't think it ever went anywhere, though. Longshot worked in mechanics when we started. Always found something to tinker around with in the same room as my sister. He was like her shadow."

Rogue frowned. "Why didn't anything ever become of it? Was she interested in someone else?" She didn't know why, but the strange look Gambit had given her when she asked him about Jeanne-Marie popped into her head. She had no reason to believe that Gambit was lying when he said he didn't know Jeanne-Marie, but Rogue couldn't help but want it confirmed by someone she trusted.

Jean-Paul gave a short laugh. "Like who? Jeanne-Marie wasn't interested in office romance. She was with the MRD to work."

Rogue's cheeks coloured. "I thought maybe Gambit. He does have a rep—"

Jean-Paul gave a full, hearty laugh. "Yeah, he so would have been the type of guy she'd give a second glance to. She was a lot like you, didn't take crap from anyone but me, I guess."

"But she didn't? Never mentioned it to you or anything?"

Jean-Paul shook his head. "Gambit wasn't here while Jeanne-Marie was alive."

Rogue could have sworn that look Gambit had given her, that answer—a lie.

"Are you sure?"

"You once asked me why I had the second nicest room in the house. It's because Gambit's room is Jeanne-Marie's old room. He didn't get hired until after she died. The two never had the chance to meet, and frankly, I'm glad for that."

Rogue gave him a playful shove. "Oh? But it's alright for me to be with him?"

"You're different, tougher. I have no doubt that you can handle him. My sister...well, I'm not so sure she would have been able to. If anything, she'd never get past the violence and the suspicious missing persons."

"Missing persons?"

Jean-Paul looked shocked, "I can't believe I never told you!"

"Told me what?"

"Gambit is a dangerous man."

"I already know that. You've been saying it since day one."

"I can't believe I never told you why!"

"You still aren't," Rogue replied dryly.

"Oh, right."

It was amazing how quickly Jean-Paul could be sidetracked when he had juicy gossip. His mood had lifted considerably, and Rogue couldn't help but smile at Jean-Paul's lightning quick mood changes. At least he wouldn't be dwelling on his sister's death for awhile.

"When Gambit was hired, he wasn't hired alone. I've seen tons of mutants come and go while under his command. Any who've crossed Gambit badly enough seem to disappear."

"What do you mean disappear, like the MRD gets rid of them?"

Jean-Paul scoffed. "Like the MRD would ever get caught dirtying their hands with mutant disappearances. I'll tell you this much though—Gambit is not who he appears to be."

"I was kinda thinking that on my own already," Rogue admitted.

"I knew if anyone would notice that he seems...off, it'd be you. Nobody around here seems to notice the little things. I do, but that's only because I know full hand what ignorance gets you. And you? You've always seemed more on the ball than any of the other mercs that have come through here."

"Aw, thanks," Rogue cooed sarcastically.

"Hey, I mean it. Like I said, the ones who cross him disappear. Fired by the MRD, but once they are out of the building, no one ever hears from them again."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I'm saying. Anyone that Gambit has had fired, disappears without a trace," Jean-Paul said adamantly. "At first I thought it was a coincidence, but I kept track. Five mutants have vanished. I even went and checked up on some. It's like they don't exist after they cross him."

"What do you think happened to them?"

Jean-Paul gave her a droll stare. "What do you think?"

"You can't be saying that you think Gambit is murdering mutants that he doesn't like. That sounds absolutely insane!"

"You really want to know what I think?" Jean-Paul asked.

"You know I do," Rogue answered seriously. If mutants were missing and the only link was that they'd all been previously employed by the MRD, Rogue could use that to help build her case against the MRD.

"I think Gambit is a MRD spook. An assassin hired to take care of...problems. Anyone who gets too nosy or too troublesome, they get him to take care of it."

Rogue felt cold, everything that Jean-Paul was saying seemed to fit Gambit perfectly. A contract killer hired to infiltrate the mutant ranks to keep the MRD's nose clean. It explained how his room was devoid of any personal items and was militantly clean. The man lived like a ghost, because that's what he was.

It still didn't explain Gambit's interest in Jean-Paul's health or his interest in her. Could the sweet and often lost man she knew really be a cold-hearted killer? She'd seen glimpses of his mind, and although she'd seen him as harmless, she'd seen plenty of things that indicated the other. He'd been in a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison for god only knew what. Maybe it was murder. Rogue had always assumed it was thieving since that seemed to be what Gambit was primarily known for.

"I wasn't kidding when I warned you to be careful around him, but like I also said, You seem to be able to handle him. Whatever it is that he is."

"Yeah, well that didn`t last long. Probably for the best anyway," Rogue mumbled. Despite knowing that Gambit was possibly responsible for missing mutants, Rogue still couldn't deny her attraction to him. She took solace in the fact that if he was responsible, he was following orders from the MRD.

"What did he do now?" Jean-Paul asked a little too keenly.

"He didn't do anything," Rogue admitted with a grumble. "The MRD ordered him not to see me."

Jean-Paul scrunched his face up in confusion. "Really? That's weird."

"Not really, I guess they want me focusing on getting Warren Junior. They don't want me distracted."

"I guess," Jean-Paul answered, unconvinced. "But I've never known the MRD to do anything like that before. And why would they tell him, but not you? Especially if you're the one they want solely romancing Warren."

"I dunno," Rogue answered, suddenly feeling very suspicious and a bit of a fool. "He's the one in charge?"

Jean-Paul raised his eyebrows. "I don't think it has anything to do with you, sweetie. I think the MRD doesn't want their little spook getting involved with the help."

"But why would he lie about it and say it's me?"

Jean-Paul patted her on the arm. "Rogue, everyone here lies or withholds bits of truth. It's our one common denominator."

It was a dismal truth, but nevertheless, it was the truth. Everyone here lied.

Even her.

Sooner or later, she was going to have unravel the lies and find the truth.


	17. Chapter 17

Jean-Paul seemed to hesitate once he'd finished his story. He looked like he had more to say, but wasn't quite sure how to say it. Almost as though he wanted to ask something of her. Rogue had had many a person try and hedge favours from her and she knew the look Jean-Paul was giving her all too well.

Rogue narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You look as if you've got something to ask me."

Jean-Paul's cheeks coloured in embarrassment. "Rogue...I know we haven't known each other very long, but I have a favour to ask of you." He stopped and ran his hand nervously through his hair. "I'll understand if you say no. It is a lot to ask someone."

Rogue knew she shouldn't be agreeing to anything until she knew exactly what it was, but with Jean-Paul, she seemed unable to tell him 'no'. Maybe she really was a lot like his sister. Jeanne-Marie couldn't seem to say 'no' to him either.

"Anything," she answered automatically, despite the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach.

There was something in Jean-Paul's voice that gave her the distinct feeling that what Jean-Paul was about to ask pertained to his sister. He wouldn't dare trust anyone else with what he was about to ask. Rogue knew deep down that although she probably wouldn't enjoy what was coming, she wouldn't refuse her friend. Even if it meant possibly getting into trouble.

Jean-Paul took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he spoke again in a very hushed voice. "I need to find out what the MRD did with my sister's body."

Rogue's eyes widened. So that was what Andrea's cutting remark about flowers on an empty grave meant.

"Okay," Rogue answered slowly, unsure what all this would entail.

He gave a short, nervous laugh. "You are being very agreeable. I had...I had not expected that."

"Why would the MRD not let you have your sister's body?" Rogue asked, appalled.

"Mutant research. Any mutant who dies in MRD service belongs to the MRD research department," Jean-Paul answered in a strained voice. This was obviously a hard thing for him to talk about.

"Your sister's body is being experimented on?" Rogue asked in utter disgust and anger. "That's despicable."

"We didn't know the fine print before we enlisted," Jean-Paul answered quietly. "Not that it matters now. Still," he sighed the word longingly. "I would like nothing more than to put Jeanne-Marie's body to rest. I-I have the plot, the stone...I just need her."

It dawned on Rogue that this was the reason why Jean-Paul felt uncomfortable bringing her along. He had wanted her to accompany him to the gravesite, but felt weird about it, since Jeanne-Marie actually wasn't in the place that Jean-Paul went to pay his respects. She could see the sorrow drifting in through his gaze again as his thoughts moved back to those of his sister.

Rogue doubted that her friend would ever be able to heal unless he knew for certain his sister was at peace. Finding her body and giving her a proper burial would be a step in the direction of healing for Jean-Paul.

Another thought crossed Rogue's mind, and she was immediately disgusted with herself for it. Wherever Jeanne-Marie's body was being held was no doubt a place the MRD did not want the general public knowing about. If they could locate the body, Rogue would be able to delve deeper into the MRD and finally do the job she was sent here to do. She felt incredibly guilty that Jean-Paul's agony could very well be the piece of the puzzle Rogue had been waiting for.

"Why haven't you been able to get her body?" Rogue asked. "Aside from the security and whatnot, I assume you've been trying for the past three years."

"I don't know where they are keeping her," Jean-Paul admitted. "There is a record vault at the main building. Heavily guarded by some pretty advanced lasers, but I'm quick enough to get past them. I just haven't been able to get to the vault to do it."

"Why not?"

"Because we always get security detail in teams. Do you really think Andrea and the likes would help me break into the place we are supposed to be guarding?"

Well, that made sense.

Rogue nodded in understanding. She had been to this dance many times before."You need me to keep an eye out and watch your back while you get into the record vault."

"Yes!" Jean-Paul hissed excitedly. "All I need is a few minutes. I could get in and get out before anyone, other than my partner, was any the wiser."

It sounded risky. Rogue could only imagine the consequences if they were caught. Mutants who were fired from the MRD disappeared. If they were caught deliberately breaking in and stealing MRD information, Rogue wasn't too sure that even Gambit's attraction to her could save them. Still, Jean-Paul needed her help, and she couldn't deny that this might be exactly the proof Rogue needed to bring down the MRD.

All that needed to happen was for Gambit to pair Rogue with Jean-Paul.

"I heard Gambit talking with head office the other day about getting you in for security detail at the main building," Jean-Paul spoke as if he could read her exact thoughts. "It shouldn't be long now before you get the training. Hopefully, I'll be the one assigned to train you. If not, eventually we will be paired together."

"So now all we have to do is wait and plan."

"I still can't believe you're going to help me, even after everything I've told you." Jean-Paul was trying his best not to show his relieved smile. "I mean, if we are caught, the consequences—"

"We are not going to get caught," Rogue confirmed sternly. She'd been a double agent far too long to actually get caught, and she was determined that the MRD would be no different than her previous missions. Only confidence would help them out with this daunting task. Rogue had no place for doubt. Doubt would get them caught quicker than confidence.

Jean-Paul looked nervous and giddy all at the same time. "I appreciate you risking your job for me, Rogue."

"It won't be a risk," Rogue answered. "I am very good at what I do, and I've been doing it for a very long time."

"You'll be double-crossing the hand that currently feeds you," Jean-Paul stated quietly, as if he thought she would back down.

Rogue gave a bored shrug. "It wouldn't be the first time."

* * *

><p>Jean-Paul's information regarding Rogue's training had been correct. It wasn't that long before Rogue was told by Gambit that she would be going for security training at the main building. She could tell that he wanted to be the one to train her, but he was back to doing his best to avoid her and stay the hell away.<p>

Rogue had to remind herself, yet again, that it was for the best. Especially now that she had no idea if Gambit was killing off mutants for the MRD. A cold shiver raced down her spine as she studied his stoic expression. Just looking at the man gave no indication of what he was or what he was capable of. Behind that mask, the real Gambit existed somewhere. Rogue had so many questions she wanted to ask him. So many answers she needed. But she knew better than to ask the wrong questions to the right person. It would do her no good to have Gambit suspicious of her and why she was here.

Flying under the radar was her best option. For her team's sake and for Jean-Paul's sake. Now that she had agreed to help him locate his sister's body, Rogue had to be extra careful not to draw any suspicious attention to herself. She needed to be a model mercenary, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Fabian Cortez was strangely the mutant assigned to training her at the main building. Rogue could see the disappointment on Jean-Paul's face. He had wanted to be the one to train her and she didn't blame him. He had been trying for three years to find his sister's body and now that he was a smidge closer to actually doing it, the waiting was going to drive him crazy.

It was odd that Cortez would be training her, considering that Gambit openly loathed the idea of sending her off on any sort of mission with a male other than himself or Jean-Paul. But Rogue couldn't complain there either. With the secrets she had to keep, it was best that Gambit wouldn't be the one with her. If he really was a spook, Rogue had no doubt that he would be paying close attention to what everyone was doing, if he wasn't already. Rogue could certainly do without the added stress of being directly under Gambit's watchful eye.

It turned out that Jean-Paul was given the night off while Longshot and Gambit were heading out to some undisclosed location. The twins were once again being sent to Trask's lab. That left only Cortez for training. It would be suspicious if Jean-Paul suddenly leapt forward wanting to train Rogue on his day off of a job everyone knew he despised.

Gambit and Longshot left before everyone else did.

Rogue followed after Cortez shortly after. She wanted to ask if Cortez knew what it was Gambit and Longshot were doing or even where they were going, but she didn't know the man as well as she knew Jean-Paul and she trusted him even less.

Cortez was an incredibly quiet man by nature, and tonight shouldn't have been any different than any other, but he was almost too quiet for Rogue. Almost as though there was something weighing heavily on his mind. Perhaps the past few days had simply made Rogue paranoid and extra jumpy. She had certainly taken up a dangerous task and was finally starting to get somewhere in terms of uncovering the MRD's secrets.

Needless to say, the trip to the main building was pretty silent.

There was a large concrete sign that read 'Mutant Registration Department of America' at the driveway Cortez pulled into. Past the heavy barbwire and concrete fence, after the sign was a longer driveway, then the actual building.

The main building was exactly what Rogue had expected it to be. It was a large, multi-story building with a grey, nondescript exterior. It looked intimidating and Rogue couldn't help but stare at the huge building. It was positively sinister at night.

Cortez had waved a pass key at the main gate located just past the concrete sign. They were allowed past, and Cortez parked their car in the area marked 'Staff Parking'. Everything Cortez did looked routine and normal. Rogue suspected that to him, it was. Cortez was here because he chose to be here and Rogue believed that nothing about this place bothered the man. So why was he exceptionally quiet tonight?

"Can't get in without your pass key," Cortez mumbled. "You won't get one right away, anyway. Your superior will have it."

By 'superior' Rogue suspected that he meant her partner. She let it drop. Fine with her if Cortez wanted to act all high and mighty. Before she came along, he was the bottom of the totem pole. He might as well get the chance to think that he was now higher than someone, though she doubted Gambit would see it that way—not that she was going to tell him.

Cortez used the same pass key to open the main building door. "Can't get in without the pass key. Can't get in with the pass key unless you swipe it at the exact time you are supposed to be here." Cortez turned and met her eyes. "I suggest you arrive at least ten minutes early. You do not want to have to go back and get Gambit to reset the time code for you."

Rogue had no doubt that Cortez had made that mistake before.

"Pass key, exact time, don't be late—got it," Rogue confirmed.

By the look on Cortez's face, her answered was a bit too chipper.

He led her into the building and stopped just short of the door. "Once inside stand here for exactly two minutes."

Rogue shrugged and stood beside him. "And why do we do this?"

He gave her a petulant glare. It was obvious Cortez didn't want to answer questions and was doing his best to act all superior. As if her asking a question was going to slow him down, he answered, "This is where the body scan happens. Everything is timed so that not just anyone can get in here."

Rogue nodded. Of course the MRD would have some sort of theft prevention installed. With Gambit aiding the MRD and his previous experience as a thief, Rogue was sure the MRD's security was not only clever, but top notch.

After exactly two minutes, Cortez moved from the spot. Rogue looked at the floor and realized it was marked by a thin, black line where the tile pattern changed. To anyone who blundered in here, it was completely unnoticeable.

The area was quite a bit open with some decorative topiaries in heavy cement vases styled to look Grecian. She heard the sound of rushing water, and turned her head to see a vast fountain to the left of the room. The other side housed a long desk. If she didn't know better, she'd say that she had walked into a hotel lobby instead of the MRD lobby. Even with the dim security lighting it looked comfortable and inviting. _Welcome to my parlour, said the Spider to the Fly._

"Main floor is basically the PR floor. Made for show for the public." Cortez moved along the room with familiarity and ease. "Easiest floor to patrol, but the most important. This is the only floor where anyone can get in from. Everything else is sealed."

Rogue silently nodded.

Cortez looked pleased with himself.

"There is the front entrance we came in, the emergency exits on the West and East ends and the back door for deliveries only. Alarms will go off if any are tampered with or opened."

"What do I do if an alarm goes off?" Rogue asked.

"Kick the shit out of whoever gets in," Cortez answered with a vicious grin. "Never happens, though. No one is stupid enough to attack the main building."

Rogue followed Cortez as he went to the elevator. "The next five floors are office areas. They rarely need to be checked. Still you should go through them at least once on your shift."

Rogue climbed into the elevator with Cortez and watched as he hit the button for the second floor. The doors closed and the elevator moved. It dinged before the doors opened to the second floor.

"See? Office space." Cortez didn't bother moving from the elevator.

Rogue stayed in place as the door closed again and Cortez hit the button for the seventh floor. The elevator began to move again and Rogue wished it would hurry up. Cortez wouldn't even give her eye contact, and an awkward silence hung between them.

_Guess he's really not one for small talk_, Rogue mused. She would have had much more fun with Jean-Paul...except when did someone have fun in the MRD building? Rogue quickly erased that thought.

When the elevator stopped on the seventh floor, Cortez got out and Rogue followed. He stopped again with his toes just touching the same type of black line she had seen in the lobby. Ahead of them, maybe six feet, was a long metal wall.

"Another body scan. Two minutes after you stop at the line," Cortez muttered.

Rogue wasn't sure, but she thought Cortez was getting less and less chatty as the evening wore on. An amazing feat for a man who barely spoke anyway. She was pretty sure that if he didn't have to train her, they wouldn't be talking at all. Not that they were actually talking. He was explaining the proper security protocol in the most boring way humanly possible, and she was listening.

She would rather have listened to Gambit tell her all of this. At least his voice had a pleasant, seductive cadence when he spoke. That soft, lilting accent slid suggestively across his lips with every word he uttered. It would have been so much easier to pay attention to Gambit, than Cortez...or maybe not. Gambit was distraction at its best, and she probably wouldn't be listening to a single word he would say if he were here instead. She would be setting alarms off left, right and center because she'd be too busy fantasizing about him.

She shook her head violently in an attempt to shake Gambit from her mind. Even while not being near her, he was distracting. She needed to get him out of her head.

Cortez gave her a weird look. He'd seen her shaking her head and probably thought she was crazy.

After two minutes, a large chunk of the metal wall slid open. Rogue's mouth dropped open. She hadn't even seen a seam for the door frame. Incredible.

"This is the research lab in the main building." Cortez gave a bored wave of his hand into the room. "Nowhere near what Trask's lab is capable of. This is probably the least exciting of all the MRD labs."

It was interesting to know that there was more than one MRD lab. Although this one was in the main building, it was probably the safest one in terms of keeping the MRD from looking like the bad guys they were.

"Where are the other labs located?" Rogue asked.

"Somewhere else."

She should have expected an answer like that. Either Cortez was still on his high horse and acting like she was on a need to know basis, or he honestly didn't know and was trying to act like he was all high and mighty. Either way, Rogue wasn't getting any answers from him.

He turned back to the elevator and clicked the last button. The eighth floor looked just like the seventh. Black line, metal wall. They stood at the line for two minutes before the metal slid open revealing an incredibly long hallway.

"We don't go any further than this line," Cortez said carefully. "That hallway leads to the vaults and no one can get past the lasers to open it."

"Who _can_ get in there and what are the vaults?" Rogue asked.

"MRD CEO's and high ranks. We lowly mutants just check the floor and leave. The only way past the lasers is to have the authority to turn off the lasers."

"But what's in there?" Rogue asked again.

Cortez shrugged. "Damned if I know."

At least he was being honest this time. Cortez didn't know and had actually admitted it. Jean-Paul knew that the vaults housed all the records of mutants, past and present, who had worked for the MRD. Rogue was lucky to have befriended Jean-Paul and not Cortez. Cortez was quite possibly the weakest link in the team.

"Back downstairs," Cortez said. "There is still the storage and supply room in the basement."

The elevator ride was long and quiet. Not that Rogue had expected any differently. Only the longer Rogue remained in silence with Cortez, the more nervous and uncomfortable he seemed to get. She could understand that her mutation unnerved people and mutants alike, but she hadn't thought she had done anything to Cortez to warrant the jitters from him. She was certain that he was uneasy around her. More so than he'd ever been before.

Rogue pondered all the possible reasons for Cortez's strange behaviour as the elevator thrummed down to the basement. Maybe he was aware of her relationship with Gambit as well. Andreas had known, so it was likely that Cortez did too. It wasn't as if Gambit had been very secretive about his attraction. Rogue had pounced the man of her own free will right in front of their building, so she couldn't claim being discreet either.

When they reached the basement, Cortez entered the room. It looked like a warehouse with crates and pallets stacked everywhere.

"And the basement is a basement," Cortez said, finalizing his grand tour.

The two stood in silence.

Cortez was definitely ill at ease with her now that he was done his training. Rogue studied him carefully. He wouldn't meet her eyes and quickly glanced away...almost as if he was hiding something from her rather than being afraid of her.

Something was definitely wrong here, and Rogue could now hear the warning bells at full volume ringing in her head. She had brushed Cortez's behaviour off as a 'Gambit thing' but the longer she stood in silence with the man, she could see he had a secret.

Something she wasn't supposed to know, and something he was having trouble not telling.

"I think it's about time you tell me what it is you don't want me to know, Cortez," Rogue said in a very calm, even voice. Logan would have been proud. It was intimidating and violent all in the subtext, but pleasant and lovely in the words and tone. It was something Logan and often Storm used to frighten enemies. Calm people in dangerous situations or situations where there should be anger, always looked kind of psychotic, and therefore, scary.

Cortez was scared.

He gulped down a huge breath of air. "I-I swear I didn't want any part of it," Cortez stammered. "You were always nice enough to me, even got me home safe that night of the benefit..."

"Spill it," Rogue growled, her calm wavering. Something was amiss and it was directed at her. This had Andrea written all over it.

"Andrea wanted to teach you a lesson. She even got Trask to rearrange the work schedule that got sent to Gambit."

Rogue frowned. "Rearranged it how?"

"They needed to get you away from the base, along with Gambit and Longshot...and... uh..." He faltered.

"Don't make me hurt you, Cortez," Rogue remarked with a deadly calm when his voice trailed off.

Cortez winced as though she was going to hit him. Funny, that would be the least of his worries if she didn't find out exactly what she wanted to.

"Andrea knew she couldn't go after you directly without pissing off Gambit so—"

Rogue gasped in horror as the realization of what was going on hit her hard.

Cortez didn't need to say it.

He did anyway.

"—they went after Jean-Paul."


	18. Chapter 18

Rogue's head spun. The von Strucker twins had set up a trap and had Jean-Paul. Because of Andrea's rivalry with her, Jean-Paul was now in danger. Rogue was beyond furious.

"Where are they?" Rogue demanded. "And what have they done?"

Fabian Cortez looked severely agitated. "The basement of the base. I don't know the details. They've got something from Trask...that's all I know, I swear!"

Rogue had no time to waste. Without a second thought, she slipped her glove off her hand and reached for Cortez. The quick movement caught him off guard, and before he could blink or register what was happening, Rogue had effectively knocked him out.

"Sorry, Cortez," Rogue muttered, stepping over his body. "I appreciate you comin' clean, but I still can't trust you. Can't have you following me, or worse, leading me into a trap."

Once she had absorbed Cortez's thoughts it was easy to see that Cortez had told her the truth and all he knew. At first, she couldn't figure out why Fabian allowed such a thing to even happen to Jean-Paul, but she could now see that Andrea had used the promise of sex to lure Cortez into their plan. The guy really needed to fall for a more respectable girl than Andrea von Strucker.

Thanks to her newly absorbed memories, getting out of the main building was easy once Rogue took Cortez's pass key and car keys. Cortez would just have to sleep it off in the basement until the effects of her mutation wore off. Rogue didn't doubt that this little lesson would keep Cortez from following along with Andrea's sadistic plans in the future. If Andrea lived long enough to see a future. Right now, Rogue was seeing red.

She was lucky that Cortez had decided to come clean. Never had she been so grateful for Cortez's drunken behaviour at the benefit. It was fortunate that something Rogue had used solely as a means to get into the base to snoop had helped her out again. She had no idea that she'd had any sort of an impact on Fabian Cortez. The man never gave an opinion one way or the other about her.

In record time, Rogue made it back to the base. She had never driven so fast in her life, and the entire time she prayed she'd get there in time. She knew that the twins had sadistic tendencies and she knew that Gambit and Longshot were nowhere in sight. Lord only knew how far Andrea had talked Trask into sending them.

Rogue's heart pounded with unease. She had never been so scared in her life. Jean-Paul was in danger because of her. The thought made her utterly sick to her stomach. If she had never bothered to befriend him, he would never have become a target for the von Strucker twins.

When she got her hands on them...

The building was dark and eerily quiet. She crept up the front steps and carefully tested the door. Locked. She slid her house key from her pocket and quietly pushed it into the lock and twisted. She heard the faint click, and turned the knob. She stepped lightly, having had many years of practice being a ghost, and remaining undetected. She'd have made a pretty lousy spy if she couldn't sneak around quietly. Finally her experience in espionage would come in handy. It was the first time she really, truly appreciated the skill that had separated her from the rest of the X-men.

She slipped up against the wall, creeping in the shadows towards the basement door. She was as silent in her movements as the house was still. The twins wouldn't even see her coming...or hear her until she wanted them to. Then—they'd be sorry.

As she neared the basement door, she could see that it hadn't been closed all the way. Cautiously, she grabbed the knob and pulled.

Nothing but darkness.

The twins had planned ahead and kept the lighting to a minimum, most likely to avoid being found easily. Had she not have known where they were, she would have wasted time looking elsewhere before trying the darkened basement. She would have expected to see the ominous light shining from under the door crack.

She peered down the steps into the basement and listened. In the vast, still darkness she could hear the faint murmurs of the twins. Rogue could not make out the words, but in the end it wouldn't matter. Nothing they could or would say would be changing her course of action tonight.

Tonight she was out for blood.

No one hurt or threatened her friends and got away with it.

No one.

It was the one trait she had in common with Logan. The thing that had first bonded them. Rogue was no stranger to vengeance, and neither was Logan. When angered, Rogue's temper fiercely matched that of Logan's. She understood better than anyone why Logan had trouble holding back sometimes. She didn't always agree with Logan's berserker rages, but she understood them and she knew where they came from.

Right now she understood Logan better than she ever had in her life.

Her training kicked back in as she choked down the swell of rage that threatened to escape and send her barrelling down the stairs like a mad dog. It would do no good to let her anger get the best of her. That was where she and Logan differed. Rogue was known for keeping a fairly level head when her temper flew—at least in comparison to Logan. To someone else, like Storm...well, Rogue couldn't even compete with that woman's calm.

She took the first step and began descending the staircase into the encroaching black. She hated not knowing where she was going or what was in front of her, but she could slide through the dark as though it was second nature. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but somehow it seemed easier now than it had ever been before. It was like she had acquired a skill set from someone else.

She frowned. She'd only had to absorb Cortez in the past few weeks. Fabian Cortez was a blundering lummox, to put it lightly. There was no way he was versed in the art of stealth.

When she reached the bottom step, it dawned on her.

She'd absorbed Gambit once in the past few weeks. She hadn't meant to, and so it was one of those things that didn't register right away. Not like absorbing Cortez. Both times, she was fully aware of what she was doing and had the intention to do so ahead of time. Although absorbing Gambit had been unintentional, it appeared that she now possessed some of his specialty traits. It was certainly a bonus in this particular case.

Normally when she found herself behaving differently or possessing knowledge that she couldn't quite explain, it made her feel uncomfortable and shifty. Like she was somehow being silently invaded. She didn't like it one bit when other people's traits mixed in with her own without her realizing it until it was too late. There was nothing worse than feeling like a stranger in her own body. It was bad enough not to be able to fit in with others on the outside, but on the inside it was just that much worse.

She silently rounded a corner, following the voices. Around another bend, she could see the faint glow of light. The twins' voices were getting louder, but that wasn't what had gotten to her and made her hands curl tightly into hardened fists.

She could hear Jean-Paul.

He spoke no words, but she could hear him whimpering in pain.

She bit her lip until she could taste blood to keep herself from barging into the room. If she made noise now, it would give the twins time to prepare for her attack. And she certainly didn't want that.

Right now, she had the element of surprise on her side. She didn't want the twins getting wise and making sure they were holding hands so they could use their mutation against her. No, she wanted them surprised and she wanted them vulnerable. Just as Jean-Paul had been when they'd ambushed him. She wanted them to feel the exact way her friend did. It still wasn't enough to appease the vengeance that boiled inside her.

She stayed behind the door and took a moment to compose herself. Anger, when used effectively could be the greatest tool, the greatest focus. But if she let it get the best of her, it could quickly lead to mistakes and danger.

A sharp cry from Jean-Paul had Rogue abandoning her battle calm. She shoved the door open with enough force that it crashed against the wall. The loud knock caught the twins' attention. They looked up from the medical table they had Jean-Paul strapped to. The shock displayed on their faces told Rogue that she had caught them off guard and by surprise.

Rogue looked from poor Jean-Paul to each of the twins in but a moment before she let out a howl of rage and attacked. She flew across the room with all the fury of a valkyrie and hit her mark like a battleaxe. She went after Andrea first. Had Rogue been thinking logically and not blinded by her hatred, she would have gone for Andreas first. But this was personal. Andreas was the lackey; Andrea, the brains. A score needed to be settled.

It was obvious that Andrea had expected Rogue to take out Andreas first. She wasn't prepared for Rogue leaping over Jean-Paul and the table to land on top of her with her full weight. Rogue tumbled to the ground with Andrea and threw her fists, pounding madly at the woman's face. Rogue couldn't see or think of anything but Andrea. The bitch would think twice about ever crossing Rogue if she survived Rogue's wraith.

There was shouting. There was screaming. There was the pounding of footsteps, fists. The basement had come alive in the hurried adrenaline of a fight. Andrea fought back. Kicking. Clawing.

Rogue wouldn't let her go. She had never attacked someone with such a berserker rage before. She was consumed by it. She had always managed to keep her head. Not tonight. Tonight she was Logan.

Dimly in the back of her mind she wondered what was taking Andreas so long to come to his sister's aid. Clearly he could peel Rogue off of her if he grabbed her from behind. She'd fight him like the devil too, but at least his sister would have a chance at escape.

It seemed like forever before he moved into action and yanked her off of Andrea with amazing strength and speed. Rogue snarled as she kicked her legs backwards, twisting and turning, trying to get free from Andreas's hold. He was stronger than she had expected. He could very well subdue her, and then she'd be in real trouble. She clawed around, reaching backwards, trying to get a grip on some bare skin.

She found none.

Her survival instincts kicked in.

Like hell a von Strucker was going to be taking her down. She struggled to free herself from Andreas's hold, fighting like a hellcat. She went for all the soft fleshy parts she knew Andreas had, only to encounter hardened muscles that should never have been there. Apparently, Andreas was very good at dressing like a doughy slob, because Rogue had not expected Andreas to be so solid.

It wasn't until Andrea got herself up from the floor and lunged at her that Rogue realized what was going on. Andreas swung her around, taking the blow from Andrea himself. She heard the crash of a body hitting the floor. Andrea must have been knocked backwards. Rogue struggled to turn around and see what was going on. There was no way Andreas would attack his sister and defend Rogue. Absolutely no way.

"Fils de pute!" Gambit's voice snarled close to her ear. "Andreas, rein your sister in before I do it for you!"

Rogue was in Gambit's arms, not Andreas's. If Gambit's voice booming loudly by her ear wasn't proof enough, Andreas scurrying past her line of vision was. The cavalry had arrived. And somehow it made Rogue angrier. How dare Gambit intervene? Andrea deserved every punch she'd gotten, and then some.

Rogue twisted violently in Gambit's arms. "Let me go!"

She was lifted from the floor as she wildly kicked the air, struggling to get free. Andreas was now holding his sister back in much the same manner.

"You bitch!" Andrea screeched. "You broke my fucking nose!"

"That's not all I'll break!" Rogue shrieked back.

"Enough!" Gambit shouted, his commanding voice rising above the rest.

Fighting against Gambit's grip was no good. He was too strong and too well clothed. Rogue stopped struggling. She felt Gambit's breath brush against the back of her neck in a sigh of relief. His grip loosened. It was all she needed. She broke free and went for Andrea again. Only Gambit was too quick, and he snatched her back within his steel grip.

Andrea laughed.

Rogue glared at the woman. "You so much as look at Jean-Paul again, and I will kill you."

Andrea stopped her laughter dead. The look on Rogue's face made it perfectly clear to Andrea that she was serious. Andrea sobered up and shifted her gaze from Rogue. Good. Andrea needed a healthy dose of fear.

"Gambit…" Longshot said tensely, as if to prompt Gambit to do something about the hostility.

Rogue wasn't facing Longshot so she couldn't see where he was or what he'd been doing, but it made sense that he would be here with Gambit. The two had been together on a mission.

"Tend to Jean-Paul," Gambit instructed him.

"What about the twins?" Longshot asked.

At first Rogue thought he was asking about their health and injuries. Like hell they were more important than Jean-Paul.

"They won't be going anywhere," Gambit replied. He turned his attention to Rogue. "You gonna calm down some now, chere?"

Rogue swallowed all the angry curse words that sat on the tip of her tongue and gave a slight nod. To her surprise, Gambit let her go. Gambit had his eye on the twins and pulled his phone from his pocket. There was no point in finishing her fight. It wasn't like Gambit or even Longshot would let her if she tried.

Her anger didn't quell, but right now Jean-Paul was all that mattered. She quickly strode to the table, where Longshot had already unstrapped her friend. Rogue didn't know what the twins had done to him or were going to do to him, but he looked bad. Jean-Paul was no longer conscious; mostly likely he'd passed out from pain when Rogue had entered the room. He had numerous incisions on his bare chest and had been hooked up to some sort of IV. There was blood everywhere. Rogue clenched her fists.

She jumped, even snarled when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. It was Longshot.

"He'll be okay," he spoke curtly. "I've seen much, much worse."

It was little comfort to Rogue. She felt so helpless, so furious. Gambit was speaking behind her, all calm and normal into his phone.

"I need back up. There has been a situation at the base. Yup." He hung up the phone and casually popped it back into his pocket.

The way he acted, like this was a normal occurrence pissed Rogue off even more. Then she remembered that Jean-Paul had told her that Gambit monitored his vital signs on a regular basis. The silver bracelet Jean-Paul wore sent a constant feed to Gambit's phone. He should have detected that Jean-Paul was in danger much faster than she had. He should have been here first.

Fury ignited in her once again as she rounded her anger on Gambit. "Where the hell were you?" she demanded.

He didn't answer.

"What good is being able to track his vitals if you don't _do_ anything about it?" she demanded again. She needed someone else to blame _and_ she wanted answers.

"I got here as fast as I could," he answered quietly.

"You don't have to explain yourself to her," Longshot chirped up angrily.

Rogue whirled around to face Longshot. "Don't give me anymore reasons, Longshot," Rogue warned. "I am this close to throwing my fist at you too."

Longshot glowered and looked past her to Gambit. "You're going to have to do something about her."

Gambit gave a weary sigh. "I know."

Before Rogue had time to react, Gambit was beside her and she felt a sharp prick on her neck. She instantly felt woozy, dizzy…

"Sorry, chere," he apologized.

Rogue caught a glimpse of him putting a syringe back into his pocket.

Then everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> _"__Fils de pute!"_ translates to the equivalent of _"Son of a bitch!"_


	19. Chapter 19

Rogue came awake with a start. Groggy and disoriented, it took a moment for her to take in the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings. Once the fog in her brain cleared a little, she realized that she was in Gambit's room, and neatly tucked into his bed.

She took a moment to think. There was an awful pounding in her head and her stomach clenched in painful hunger. Something had happened...but what? She couldn't remember right now, and she couldn't concentrate. She looked around and noticed a tray beside the bed on the night table.

Food.

She reached for the bottled water and snapped open the cap, gulping the precious liquid down quickly. Next, she tore into the cereal bar, and opened the banana. She wolfed everything down like she hadn't eaten for days. Maybe she hadn't. On the side corner, a bottle of painkillers sat waiting. Suspicious, she reached for the bottle and pulled off the cap. Still sealed. A wave of relief hit her. Her head was killing her, but she wouldn't trust any pill bottle that had already been opened. Breaking the seal, Rogue tipped the bottle and took two pills.

Feeling a little better and much more alert, she went over the past events in her head. The von Strucker twins had deliberately captured and tortured Jean-Paul. They had fixed the mercenary work schedule to ensure no one would be around. Rogue had found out from Cortez, she'd found Jean-Paul, attacked Andrea, Gambit had arrived...and then she'd been drugged.

Gambit had injected her with something on purpose, and she had blacked out. The son of a bitch had drugged her and now she had awoken here, in his room.

Frowning in confusion, she pulled back the bed covers. Straining her body, she forced herself to get up. She felt tired, weak. Even frail. What the hell had Gambit given her?

She was wearing her own pyjamas. She hadn't dressed herself in them. The sun peeked in from the window, alerting her that it was daylight. It had been dark when she'd last been conscious, but it still didn't explain how much time had passed since she'd last been awake.

She glanced at the bedside clock. It was almost noon. She chewed on her bottom lip and listened. It was too quiet. Much too quiet for a typical day at the base. She could hear a strange shuffling, scurrying noise outside the door. It was almost like a mouse. A big, scared mouse..

Curious, Rogue slowly moved across the bedroom. She opened the bedroom door to an empty hallway. Across from Gambit's room, she could see Jean-Paul's room. The door was open and the room was empty. Where was Jean-Paul? Suddenly Rogue's chest ached as if pricked by memories. Last she'd seen her friend, he was unconscious and hurt. Was he okay now?

The shuffling noise got louder and Rogue followed it all the way to Fabian Cortez's bedroom. His door was also open and his room was the source of the panicked noise. She stood silently in the doorway and watched as Cortez was hurriedly shoving his belongings into an oversized, worn out duffle bag. At least she'd found someone who might have some answers for her.

"Where is Jean-Paul?" she asked immediately.

Cortez gave a startled cry and jumped like a frightened, little kid. He whirled around to face her. "Jesus! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Rogue answered, inviting herself into his room. She was puzzled and sidetracked by his erratic behaviour. "So...what are you doing?"

Cortez looked at her like she was crazy. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting the hell out of here before I mysteriously vanish too!"

That set Rogue on alert. "Jean-Paul is missing?"

"What?" Cortez scowled. "No, he's in your room. God, did you just wake up or something?"

"Actually, yes," Rogue answered. "I did just wake up."

"Shit," Cortez mumbled more to himself. "He gave you a higher dose than normal." This revelation seemed to have worked Cortez into more of a panic, and he quickly continued to pack.

"Why is Jean-Paul in my room?" she asked, ignoring the fact that it was obvious Cortez was in no mood to talk.

"Gambit wanted him close by, to keep an eye on him." Cortez glanced down guiltily. "He was messed up pretty bad. He's still weak. Been slipping in and out of consciousness."

Rogue felt her shoulders relax a bit. Jean-Paul was alive and recovering. It also explained why she had woken up in Gambit's bed and not her own. It still didn't explain why Fabian was acting like Hell itself was about to swallow him up.

"You said you didn't want to vanish too, what did you mean by that?" she asked, her mind now kicking into high gear. She was surprised how alert she'd become since waking up. It was amazing what food and water could do.

"The MRD fired the twins," Cortez supplied the answer with a hushed, low voice. "Trask, too."

"So?" Rogue replied stubbornly. "After what they did to Jean-Paul, they deserved it."

Fabian wrung his hands together in distress. "You have no idea what this really means. The MRD _fired_ the von Struckers. They have been large financial backers to the MRD for years. Over half the laboratories in the company are financed by them alone. For the MRD to fire them on a single word from Gambit tells you right there just how much power that man has within the company."

Well, that was certainly news to her. Maybe Jean-Paul wasn't all that far off when he'd claimed Gambit must be a spook or something for the MRD. He could certainly have the authority to eliminate threats to the company as he saw fit. Still, Rogue couldn't help but feel very little about the twins' plight. They had, after all, had it coming.

"So you're leaving because the twins got fired?" It didn't really make sense to her, but hey, she didn't know Cortez all that well, other than that he hated Magneto and had a hard on for Andrea.

"Yes," he hissed before pulling out his silver flask and taking a long sip. The man did love his liquor. "The twins got fired and now they have disappeared. I am not going to wait around for it to happen to me, and neither should you."

"How do you know they've disappeared?" Rogue asked. "I'm sure they've just skulked off somewhere."

"No," Cortez answered solemnly. "They're gone. No one has seen or heard from them since the day they were fired. Gambit got them, I just know it."

Rogue's ears perked up. This wasn't the first she'd heard of disappearing mutants and Gambit's name tied to the phenomenon. Jean-Paul had said much the same thing to her too.

"What makes you think Gambit is involved?"

Cortez glanced nervously around the room as if the walls had eyes and ears. "Shut the door," he urged.

Intrigued, Rogue closed the door and waited for Cortez to speak. She'd never had an opportunity to speak personally with Cortez, and it seemed he had a story of his own regarding Gambit.

"I've met Gambit before," he admitted quietly.

"Where?"

"We both worked for the same outlaw gang. We called ourselves 'Marauders'. He was just as psychotic then as he is now. He annihilated an entire mutant colony a few years back. We wound up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison together after it turned out there was a mole in the gang."

Rogue's jaw dropped. She forced herself to close it quick and keep her shock to this news to herself. "I thought only Gambit had escaped the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. I didn't realize you had too."

"_I_ didn't escape," Cortez answered. "My role was small and I served my time. Paid my debt to society. Even went to work for Magneto to help wash the taste of that gang outta my mouth." He took a long draw from his flask and shivered as he swallowed the liquid. "Never thought I'd ever run into that man again in my life, especially working for the MRD. An escaped convict actually working for a company affiliated with the government, can you believe it?"

"It is a little farfetched," Rogue confessed. "But Gambit seems to have worked the situation to his advantage."

"Tell me about it," Cortez muttered. "I would have left long ago if I wasn't so sure that son of a bitch would come after me."

"And he won't if you leave now?"

Cortez sighed. "If I can just lie low, off the radar..."

It appeared that as much as Fabian wanted to bolt and desert his post at the MRD, he was just as scared of getting caught by Gambit. Despite the role he had played in the von Strucker's plans, Rogue felt a little sorry for the man. Everyone here seemed to know something about Gambit and everyone here seemed to fear him. Anyone who openly defied him disappeared. The twins had done it, now they were mysterious gone. So was Trask.

"So, you never did say why you thought Gambit was linked to the disappearing mutants," Rogue broached the subject carefully. Cortez had merely said that he'd previously been in a gang and in prison with Gambit. He never really explained where he had gotten the idea that Gambit was responsible for the disappearances.

"Same things happened in the Marauders. You crossed Gambit, you disappeared."

"You're absolutely sure it of that?" Rogue grilled.

Cortez glared at her. "I don't have any reason to lie. Look, I'm sorry about what happened to Jean-Paul and I'm really sorry about my part in it, but I know what I saw back then, and it's been happening here now."

Rogue believed the conviction in his voice. Maybe it was time she track Gambit down and demand answers. If what Cortez and Jean-Paul had said was true, Gambit could very well be coming for her. She had crossed him many times over. She doubted that she had left Gambit in a good place since their last meeting. She had created a lot of problems for him to explain to his higher ups. Question was: why hadn't she disappeared too? Instead, she had woken up at the base.

"Where is Gambit now?" she asked.

"Meeting room with Longshot, been in there all morning. Believe me, I made sure," Cortez answered with a hint of annoyance. "Now, if you'll excuse me—"

Rogue held her hands up in surrender. "Right, right, places to go, people to see."

"Seriously, do the same," Cortez warned. "Take your last paycheck and get the hell out of here. I've seen this before, and it only gets worse."

As ominous as Cortez's final words were, Rogue knew she couldn't do that. She could not abandon this mission, no matter how dangerous or how deep she was sinking into it. Her team depended on her. Innocent mutants depended on her. Unravelling the bizarre mysteries of this place had now become her topmost priority.

God, how she wanted to turn around and run straight back to the safety of the X-mansion. Logan would be so disappointed in her, though. She had made it this far. She couldn't possibly turn back now. It had to be a good sign that she was still here. She had not disappeared like the twins had.

Swallowing hard, she made her way down the hallway. She passed by the twins' rooms and shuddered inside. The rooms were stripped bare. No evidence that they had ever been in this building. She was glad they were gone. Hell, she probably would have killed Andrea herself, but that still didn't make their strange disappearance right. She understood Cortez's fear. If what they were saying was true, any of them could mysteriously vanish on the drop of a dime.

Would approaching Gambit with her questions put her in the same boat?

Rogue clenched her fists. She refused to be intimidated by the man. She would not allow herself to be bullied by Gambit. If it put her at risk, so be it. She had a job to do, and running had never been in her nature. Taking the bull by the horns had always been more or less her style.

As she reached the door to the meeting room, Rogue could hear Longshot and Gambit in a heated argument. Not the best time to interrupt, but Rogue felt that she no longer had the luxury of time. Besides, she'd been drugged and left out of the loop for God only knew how long. She never did ask Cortez what day it was. She figured it had to have been a few days, simply because Cortez had already looked for the twins and they were nowhere in sight.

Without giving a moment's hesitation, Rogue opened the door. 'Fortune favoured the bold' had always been a good saying for her.

When the two men realized that she had just imposed herself into their argument, both shut up. Gambit merely looked at her with indifference.

Longshot gaped at her. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded peevishly.

Rogue didn't give him the pleasure of an answer as she strolled right towards Gambit. "You and I need to have a little chat right now."

If Gambit was annoyed or offended by her demands, he didn't show it. "I imagine you are quite upset."

"Upset doesn't begin to cover it," Rogue replied, finding her courage and consequently her anger. "You drugged me!"

"For your own good," Longshot interjected snidely.

Rogue whirled around to face Longshot. "Was I talking to you?"

"Longshot," Gambit sighed in annoyance. "Would you please leave us?"

Longshot's eyes narrowed in anger. "She's gonna be your downfall," he muttered, followed by a list of profanities to himself before he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Gambit looked tired again as he turned his attention back to Rogue. He rubbed his temples as if he had a throbbing headache. "There's no curbing that temper of yours is there?"

"Not if you keep igniting it," Rogue snapped back.

"I don't do it on purpose, and Longshot was right. It was for your own good."

"I fail to see how drugging me was for my benefit."

Gambit mumbled something in French, most likely a curse, before he sat down in his usual chair. "The situation with the twins got outta hand. A gross mistake on my part. I needed to call in back up, had no choice really. You were drugged for your own safety. Everyone in that room heard you threaten to murder Andrea."

"So what?" Rogue sneered. "You decided to keep my hands clean and do it yourself?"

Gambit tilted his head quizzically. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rogue gave him a droll stare. "The twins are missing. Vanished into thin air. You mean to tell me that you had nothing to do with that?"

Gambit let out a familiar laugh. "The twins are gone from the building, yes. But they haven't disappeared, merely fired. You slept through that little dramatic interlude, I'm afraid."

"Again, I fail to see how me being drugged was for my benefit."

"Such an incident caused a great deal of..." Gambit paused, searching for the right word. "Insubordination. I'd rather have lost two mercs than three when the head reps arrived. I merely decided to keep you, drop you off in dreamland before anyone else arrived on the scene."

Rogue narrowed her eyes suspiciously. It all sounded like a plausible reason to drug her, but it was very hard to discern the truth from the lies when it came to Gambit. "You're still going to lose three mercs anyway," she revealed.

Gambit raised his eyebrows.

"Cortez is high tailing it out of here," she explained. It was probably a poor idea to put the noose around Cortez's neck, but Rogue was curious to see just how Gambit would react to the news.

Gambit rolled his eyes. "Not surprising. He won't get very far."

"Why is that?"

"He has a contract to fulfill with the MRD. They don't take kindly to deserters."

"And again we are back to disappearing mutants."

"No one has disappeared, chere."

"Seems you're the only one saying that."

He muttered another curse in French. "I didn't realize you and Cortez had gotten so chummy, considering the last time you were awake, he was not."

Rogue shrugged. "Funny, how fear can make a man talk."

"You scare him?"

Rogue shook her head. "No, but you do."

"I frighten lots of people."

"Not me."

Gambit sighed. "Evidently."

Rogue wasn't sure what to expect from Gambit or what to take from his calm, flippant answers. She decided it was time to reveal some of the more startling facts about Gambit that she had learned throughout her time here.

"I find it interesting that one phone call from an escaped convict has two of the MRD's most influential financial backers fired, along with the head scientist," Rogue stated conversationally. "That's a lot of power for someone who is only the leader of the mutant mercenary branch of the company."

A slow, careful smile slid across his face. "Someone's been doing her homework."

Rogue shrugged. "I look into all potential boyfriend's backgrounds."

"I do believe you just referred to me as your boyfriend."

Rogue smiled slyly. "I believe I said 'potential boyfriend'."

If there was one thing Rogue knew about Gambit, it was how to manipulate him into talking. He always appeared much more chatty when they were flirty and intimate. She was banking on her change of pace to get him to reveal more of himself than he originally intended. It was a dirty move, but then the game was getting muddy these days anyway.

"Doesn't bother you that I'm, as you say, an escaped convict?"

"I guess it depends on what you were in for." Rogue was now hoping to heaven that she could verify Cortez's story. It would give her a chance to decide which way she should play her next questions.

"I was in charge of murdering a mutant colony that didn't pay their protection money on time."

"You say 'in charge of', did you follow through?"

Gambit hesitated for the briefest moment. Rogue could have sworn she caught a tiny slip of guilt shift through his eyes. "Oui. I carried out my orders perfectly."

"If it was so perfect, how did you end up in prison?"

"The gang I was a part of had a mole...wouldn't have been surprised if it was your dear friend Cortez. He managed to get his sentence down to a pittance."

Rogue started. She hadn't mentioned anything about Cortez knowing Gambit prior to the MRD.

Gambit grinned wickedly and tossed a manila envelope at her.

Rogue fumbled to catch the envelope. "What's this?"

"That, ma cherie, is Cortez's file. I imagine that Cortez failed to mention that he often has severe paranoid delusions, ones that often involve conspiracy and murder. Because of our unfortunate history together, the man can't help but pin his warped realities on me."

Rogue carefully pulled out the documents and flipped through Cortez's mental history. It was all right there in black and white. She slipped the papers back in the envelope. She hated to go in this direction, but Gambit had left her little choice.

"He's not the only one around here tying your name to disappearing mutants."

"Again, fired. Mutants get fired. Jean-Paul talks too much with Cortez," Gambit answered in an almost too bored tone. "Quite a gullible little fellow too, I might add."

Rogue licked her lips and pondered the information. It bothered her that Gambit seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. It was true that Jean-Paul did enjoy gossip and often appeared to be quite flighty and overly dramatic. Was it possible that Jean-Paul had been taken in by Cortez's story? It was a highly convincing tale. Rogue had believed it herself, but now that she had seen records or Cortez's mental history, she wasn't so sure. Yet, both men believed that mutants had disappeared. She was even sure that both had checked into the disappearances. Jean-Paul, early on, and Fabian, when the von Struckers disappeared.

"It still doesn't explain why no one has seen or heard from anyone who has been fired by the MRD."

Gambit gave a nonchalant shrug. "We are mercenaries, petite. We come and go, we lead dangerous lives. Who knows where our next paycheck takes us. Just because someone is no longer in the city, doesn't mean I went out and murdered them."

"You just admitted to murdering an entire colony of mutants, and now you are telling me that you aren't killing people. How am I supposed to believe anything you say when you contradict yourself?" Rogue asked incredulously.

"I never said I murdered anyone. I said I was 'in charge of'. That makes a world of difference."

"Does it?" Rogue asked hotly, appalled by his ability to shrug off guilt. "I would think you bear just as much responsibility for those deaths as those who bloodied their hands with the actual act."

His eyes darkened, and Rogue knew he was pulling away from her. She'd hit a button. She couldn't quite explain it, but she somehow felt as if she'd hurt him. He was insane if he thought she would agree with his opinion regarding his involvement in a plot to murder a group of mutants. She didn't care if he was given orders or in a gang or not. He'd helped take innocent lives. She wasn't sure she could forgive that, no matter how much she may have liked him.

"Guess that tells you what sort of man I am," he replied darkly. "Not your boyfriend type now, am I?"

"No," Rogue answered, standing her ground when all she wanted to do was run. "You're not."

Gambit abruptly got up from his chair and pulled something from his pocket. He tossed her a slip of paper as he brushed past her and headed towards the door. "Now that you are awake, you have work to do. Warren Junior has been calling for you for the past three days. I suggest you call him back and set up a date."

Rogue stared dumbfounded at the slip of paper that had Warren's number scrawled across it. She swallowed the hard lump that had formed in her throat. Somehow, Gambit had managed to turn the tables on her and make her feel like the bad guy. She hadn't meant to hurt him. At the same time, she shouldn't be feeling anything, least of all attraction, to a man who had led a slaughter.

Refusing to acknowledge that she was hurt and upset herself, she dialed Warren's number.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> _Gah! My sincere apologies for the very, very late update. Unfortunately, some things came up in my life outside of fanfiction and I was unable to keep with my updating schedule since real life took precedence. My apologies that I was not able to leave any sort of note on the previous chapter that this one would be late. Anyway, I am officially back home now from my seven week trip and will be able to update as per usual...although, I will warn you, I do have a teething, learning to crawl infant on my hands now! Again, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. I feel just awful leaving you all hanging for such a length of time._


	20. Chapter 20

It was too warm of a day to be inside. Restlessness and unease stirred within her. Rogue barely paid any attention to the art exhibit. Her mind was elsewhere. She was having a hard time concentrating on her date with Warren.

When she had left the base to meet him, she'd checked on Jean-Paul herself. She was more than relieved that he was sitting up and awake in bed. He was healing physically and that was good, but Rogue couldn't forget the distinct hint of terror that still lingered in his eyes. He had been victimized because he was her friend. Rogue would never forget that, and she would never forgive the von Struckers for what they had done and had tried to do. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Their disappearance really didn't bother her all that much, save for Gambit's suspected involvement.

Jean-Paul didn't feel like talking about what had happened, and Rogue didn't blame him. She thought about going back to Gambit and asking what he and Longshot had discovered, but remembered that she had stupidly burned her bridge with him. There was no point in approaching Longshot. The man didn't like her and didn't try to hide it. By the time she had gone back upstairs, Cortez had fled the scene. Gambit assured her that Cortez would be brought back and for that she was sorry.

Maybe if she hadn't have said anything to Gambit about him, he'd be Scott free and long gone. She didn't believe that for a second. When she had told Gambit, he wasn't even surprised. He acted as though he had expected Cortez to bolt the entire time.

She couldn't help but feel like she was screwing up this entire mission. Talking to Gambit was like talking to a circle. He danced around everything, revealing so much and so little all at the same time. She was dizzy just thinking about it.

There was something there. Something in his words. The missing piece to her puzzle was in Gambit, not that she had given herself much of a chance to find it. No, she'd let her morals as an X-man get in the way of that. Damn it! She should have acted more mercenary-like, more ruthless, then she wouldn't be in this mess and Gambit would still be wrapped around her finger.

What was the matter with her? She had wanted so badly for him to tell her that he had been set up, wrongly accused and had never done any of the things that Cortez had said. Instead, he admitted his past like it was nothing. Like he didn't care. He was cold, unfeeling—completely at odds with the man she thought she knew.

And it broke her heart.

She had stupidly gone and fallen for a cutthroat murderer. A criminal.

Pity was replaced with shame. How could she have been so stupid? She was thankful that no one within the X-men ranks knew about this. She'd never be able to face her team if they knew how easily she'd been swayed by a solid body and devil eyes.

And that mouth, and those kisses...God, she was going to miss that.

The harsh fact remained—she was now on her own. She wouldn't be surprised if Gambit had her fired just out of spite. She had scorned him, something she was sure he wasn't going to take lightly. She knew that in a single sentence she had just made an enemy. An enemy that had a lot more pull and a lot more power than he led people to believe.

What was she going to do now?

Warren placed a warm hand on her arm, getting her attention. She jumped at the contact.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled, glancing up at Warren. "I'm not really with it today."

"Understandable," Warren answered. "I wouldn't be either if I'd learned everything you did. It is a lot to take in."

Rogue had relayed to Warren the events that had come to pass since their last meeting. She hadn't really been given a choice. She'd been knocked out for three solid days and Warren had tried contacting her each and every one of those days. When she hadn't replied back, he had understandably had gotten quite worried. So had Logan.

According to Warren, Logan was ready to storm the base and come in, claws blazing, to her rescue. It warmed her heart just a little. That was Logan, no one messed with his girl, or a member of his team. It reminded her that he did care.

And right now, more than anything, Rogue desperately needed to feel like she was cared for. She needed to know that despite their differences, her team cared.

"Look," Warren stated gently as he steered her to a quieter area of the gallery with more privacy. "If you want, I'll see what I can find out about your boyfriend, Gambit."

Rogue cringed at the word 'boyfriend'. It was poor choice of words considering the word had come up in her last conversation with Gambit. And she knew all too well how that conversation had ended.

Warren said it more as a playful tease. He was unaware of Rogue's strange history with Gambit. Rogue was painfully aware, and it made her uncomfortable. She didn't like the implication. It only served as a reminder of what she shouldn't have done with Gambit in the first place, and what she shouldn't feel for him. She didn't need another healthy dose of guilt and regret heaped onto her already full plate.

"He's not my boyfriend," she answered automatically. Which was true. Gambit wasn't her boyfriend, but it didn't mean that she hadn't entertained the idea once upon a time. Regardless of how foolish that fantasy had been.

Warren chuckled. "Just teasing, sorry. You have to admit though, even a blind man could see that he wants you."

"No, he doesn't," Rogue answered, feeling a bit defensive. This conversation was hitting a little too close to home. But it was the truth, she doubted Gambit wanted her now.

Warren shook his head. "I saw the way that guy looked at you at the benefit. He was practically salivating at the mouth whenever he saw you. And the look he gave me when I asked to dance with you? Absolutely scathing."

"_Anyway_," Rogue replied, trying to change the subject.

"You even said that he drugged you to keep you with the mercs. He just as easily could have had your ass hauled away too."

"Doesn't mean he did it because he liked me. Maybe I'm still useful," Rogue answered stubbornly.

Warren raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, useful to look at."

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true, Rogue. Guys notice when other guys notice things that they like," Warren stated tensely. "I'm certain he's got a thing for you, and frankly it isn't hard to see why."

Rogue froze at his words. Cold dread splashed down her spine. This was so not going where she had thought it was. She had been caught completely off guard for the comment.

"What are you saying exactly?" Rogue asked slowly, already knowing where this was heading.

Warren grasped her hands tightly in his and set his clear blue eyes on hers. "I think you know what it is I'm trying to say." He leaned in closer, drawing his lips towards hers. "I care about you, Rogue, and I can't keep sending you back to that place—back to him—without you knowing."

Rogue swallowed hard. Warren liked her. The shock of that revelation sent her spiralling. Damn, Jean-Paul hadn't been so far off in his speculations after all. Problem was, Rogue didn't like Warren...at least not the way he liked her.

Warren's eyes had shut softly as his head tilted inwards. Rogue's eyes widened in panic. How did she manage to get herself in these situations? She should push him away, step back, let him know right away that she wasn't interested...

But Warren was one of her few friends at the mansion. What if he took her rejection hard and refused to help her? What if he left her all on her own? Warren had put himself on the line for her. She had thought it was because he was her friend and wanted to take some of her burden. Now she knew it was because he had a thing for her.

She glanced around nervously looking for some sort of out. Something, anything to distract her from the situation at hand and stop it without having to hurt Warren. She was about to give up when her eyes spotted _him_ in a crowd.

Her hands automatically curled into fists. "Son of a bitch," she murmured.

"Huh?" Warren asked, his eyes popping wide open as he jerked away from her.

"Not you," Rogue said hurriedly, shoving past him. "I've gotta go...catch someone."

"Anna!" Warren called out after her, but she was already weaving through the crowd following after that wheat coloured mullet.

It didn't take her long to catch up to Longshot. His dreadful hairstyle did stick out like a sore thumb, making him relatively easy to find and follow. She caught him in a corner of the gallery, sheer luck on her part to catch him with his back up against a wall.

"I suggest you start explaining why the hell you're following me!" she snapped irritably.

"What? A guy can't take in an art exhibit?"

Rogue darkened her gaze. "Don't play me for a fool, Longshot. Did he send you to keep an eye on me?"

Longshot's lips tightened. "Even if he ordered me to, I'm not about to waste my time looking after Gambit's whore."

It took every ounce of her self control not to hit him. She'd never been called a whore before, and even now the title was undeserved. She hadn't even slept with Gambit. Not that she was going to try and plead her innocence to Longshot. The guy had had it in for her since the beginning, and nothing she would say was going to change his mind.

"All right then, what are you doing here?" Rogue asked instead of hitting him like she wanted to.

"Trying to get something on you." Longshot sneered. "Everything was going along just fine until you showed up wrapping everyone around your little finger. First Jean-Paul, then Gambit, Andreas, even that idiot Cortez fell under your spell."

"Wow. Jealous much?" she taunted.

"No, overly cautious," Longshot replied. "I'm warning you now—stay away from Gambit."

"I didn't realize you had a thing for him too," Rogue answered dryly.

Longshot glowered. "You are nothing but trouble for a man like him. As far as I'm concerned, you should have been fired too. Gambit thought otherwise, but then when it comes to you, he never thinks with the head on top."

Rogue wrinkled her nose at his vulgar analogy. Longshot was going well out of his way to try and protect Gambit. Odd for a man who wanted his job.

"I would have thought Gambit's supposed downfall would be your gain. It's no surprise you want his position."

Longhsot scowled and hid his shock at her words well enough, but Rogue could see through the mask. She'd caught him off guard. It appeared that he didn't realize just how much Rogue knew from Gambit and Jean-Paul about his ambitions.

"Believe me, you have no idea just how much Gambit's attraction to you can benefit me, but unlike you, I have integrity," Longshot answered loftily. "I refuse to sully such a decorated career as his solely for my own purposes."

Rogue rolled her eyes in distaste. "How _noble _of you."

Longshot didn't know the first thing about her and she was itching to give him a good piece of her mind. She didn't take kindly to his accusations, but at the same time, Longshot was revealing some pretty juicy tidbits in his anger.

For starters, he seemed to idolize Gambit. Very interesting, considering she'd seen Longshot just as afraid of Gambit as any of the other mercs. Perhaps his idol worship had gone too far and Longshot was involved in the disappearing mutants instead of Gambit. Perhaps, Longshot was so enamoured with Gambit that he was the one offing anyone who angered Gambit in an attempt to please him.

It was certainly thinking outside of the box, but then this whole conversation seemed very odd and out of character for Longshot. Perhaps he was jealous of her quick relationship with Gambit and wanted her gone too. Only Gambit had stepped in and kept her from being fired. A move that might also have kept an insane, obsessed Longshot from taking her out as soon as she had stepped from the building.

Longhsot was a talented marksman, hence his nickname, and Jean-Paul had mentioned that he was pretty much the 'Jack of all trades' around the base. Perhaps he was the guilty party, and not Gambit as everyone seemed to believe.

She had never once thought of pointing the accusatory finger in Longshot's direction, but after today, she was starting to think that it made sense. Why else would Longshot be so desperate to have her leave Gambit alone? Maybe he was afraid she'd discover the truth.

"Do you always harass his lovers when they get too close?" Rogue baited willfully. She wanted to keep Longshot talking as long as possible.

Longhsot huffed angrily. "Gambit hasn't had a lover, let alone a relationship, in well over two years. This is the first time the problem has come up."

Gambit's lack of intimacy wasn't new to her; she had already gotten that from Gambit when she'd accidentally absorbed his mind. At least with that prior knowledge, she could confirm that Longshot hadn't been one to meddle in Gambit's love life...or maybe he had and that was the reason why Gambit had closed himself off. He'd been hurt in the past by women and as a result, hadn't been attracted to anyone until she had shown up. Was it possible that Longshot had had something to do with that? It certainly fit this new pattern and theory that Longhsot was obsessed with Gambit in stalker-like proportions.

"Sounds like you've known him for awhile," Rogue commented as casually as possible.

"I have, and like I said: never been a problem with how he did his job until you showed up," Longshot answered stiffly. He looked past her and straightened up. Suddenly, he was doing his best to look non-threatening.

"There you are," Warren said, panting breathlessly as he approached her. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry," Rogue apologized. "I was just talking to—" She turned to gesture to Longshot, but he was gone. "—someone."

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Rogue answered absently before an idea hit her. "Can you check up on someone else too?"

"Sure," Warren answered with a shrug. "You'd be surprised how well money talks."

"I need you to look into a guy called 'Longshot', he's a mojoverse resident hanging out here."

"Consider it done."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks, Warren. I really do appreciate it." She glanced at her watch. "I've gotta get going."

Warren nodded, hesitating. "Rogue, I—"

"Keep in touch," Rogue answered quickly, cutting him off.

He grasped her hand as she started to turn away. "Just think about what I said earlier."

Rogue gave him a tight smile, hoping to hide her discomfort. "I will."

For the first time, Rogue was actually glad to get away from Warren. She just didn't feel the same and now she feared that if she gave him her honest answer the friendship would be ruined. She already felt the strain and wondered if Angel regretted telling her how he felt. She hadn't exactly given him the answer he was looking for.

And why hadn't she? It wasn't like she didn't like Warren. And it wasn't like she was with Gambit. In fact, it looked like she was never going to be with Gambit. That pesky lump rose in her throat again. It did every time she thought about him. Who was she fooling? She was attracted to Gambit. The bad boy. Even when she had the affections of a perfectly good man, she still couldn't let Gambit go. Even after she'd screwed things up with him...and had now been warned to leave him alone.

Would she heed Longshot's warning? She didn't see how she had much choice. She'd already told Gambit he wasn't the man for her. It was probably best if she avoided him for awhile anyway.

She regretted that Longshot had taken off before she could finish their conversation. She'd had no idea that Longshot was so possessive of Gambit. She also had no idea if Longshot might be responsible for the missing mutants. His behaviour while they spoke was pretty fishy. Something was up with him, but it didn't really surprise her. Something was up with everyone in the mercenary ranks.

She jumped at the sound of her phone ringing. Startled from her thoughts by the repetitive jingle, she reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Rogue?" It was Jean-Paul.

"Hey, sug, how're you feeling?"

"Pretty spectacular other than my entire body feels like one giant bruise."

Rogue stifled a laugh. It amazed her how quickly Jean-Paul could shift into his old, jovial self.

"That doesn't sound pretty spectacular to me," she replied.

"It is when you consider what job I have coming up, and who's been assigned with me."

It took a moment for his words to click in. After everything that had happened with the twins and Jean-Paul, Rogue had forgotten about her promise to help Jean-Paul find his sister's body.

"We're on security at the main building," Rogue answered slowly, letting the words sink into her brain.

"You bet!"

"Are you sure you're up for it? I mean, your injuries—"

"Rogue," Jean-Paul interrupted firmly. "I'll be fine. This may be the only chance we have. I swear I can do it. Even healing, I'm fast enough to get into that vault. Please, you can't fail me now."

Rogue clenched the phone tightly in her hand. "Don't worry, I won't."

And she meant it. She had failed Jean-Paul once. She wasn't about to do it again.

That didn't stop her from worrying about the whole thing. After her near brush with being fired, or worse, Rogue was now going to tempt fate again. Only this time she didn't think Gambit would have her back if she got caught.


	21. Chapter 21

The next few days at the base passed with a dark, heavy gloom that lengthened the minutes and dragged on the hours.

Rogue groaned inwardly. As expected, Gambit was back to ignoring her and belting out commands in his no nonsense, drill sergeant demeanor. It was as though he was hell bent on proving that he was in charge and nothing, absolutely nothing, would stand in his way or distract him.

During one of Gambit's more broody moments, Cortez was returned to the base. Everyone remaining feared what he would do to the man. It came as a shock when Gambit merely waved his hand, not even bothering to look at Cortez and instructed him to unpack. Rogue almost thought that Gambit looked disappointed to see Cortez returned.

Longshot continued to scowl at her, whether it was for his own benefit or Gambit's, Rogue wasn't sure. She was sure, however, that Longshot had gotten very keen on making sure she was never alone with Gambit. Not that she wanted to be. He had become dark, moody, and if Rogue didn't know any better, she would have thought he was sulking.

And that made her feel like shit.

Jean-Paul had become all-consumed by their upcoming security shift, planning everything down to the tiniest of details. He was so focused on finding his sister's body that he thought of nothing else. Rogue had never seen such dedication or determination in her friend. She'd hardly been given any time to just talk to Jean-Paul. All of his conversations circled around his daring plan.

Frankly, Rogue was looking forward to the night they would break into the vault. Anything to take her mind off of Gambit would be welcomed—even if it was something completely ludicrous and dangerous. She could handle being ignored; it was that damned look of utter betrayal in Gambit's eyes that hurt her the most.

She tried telling herself that he was being overly dramatic, but then, she already knew the truth. She'd seen it in his mind all those nights ago. She knew at the time that she ran the risk of damaging an already damaged man, and now she had fulfilled that prophecy. Gambit was not taking her rejection as she thought he would. He wasn't being mean or spiteful, but he wasn't handling it well either. Everyone at the base was just waiting for him to snap.

Sometimes she'd catch him out of the corner of her eye staring at her with a look of hopeless longing when he thought no one was looking. Other times, she would see his shadow pacing behind the door that led from his room to their shared bathroom when she was combing her hair or brushing her teeth. It was almost as if he wanted to see her, talk to her, but ultimately decided not to.

She hadn't heard from Warren since the art gallery and she was grateful. She wondered how Longshot had interpreted their body language and if he'd told Gambit of her almost kiss with Warren. She'd slug the man if he did. She wouldn't be surprised if Longshot had painted her in far worse light than she'd already done herself.

Since she had a fair amount of alone time, she spent it visiting the gardening website that Gambit belonged to. It was utterly pathetic that she had taken to pulling up the photo of him posing with a bunch of stupid flowers. The photo had been her downfall in the first place. It had been the one piece of critical evidence—or so she thought— that had somehow proven to her that Gambit wasn't really a bad man, just a deeply troubled and misunderstood one. She'd convinced herself that the man in the photo was the 'real Gambit' and because of that, she'd been foolishly chasing after a dream.

The man in the photo didn't exist. She knew that now. For whatever reason, he was gone and had never been the Gambit she had known. She knew that, but it still didn't stop her from returning to her laptop and looking at the photo.

She had by far now become the stupidest person she knew.

She really needed to get a life, hell, a clue and reclaim her dignity.

When the night arrived for her and Jean-Paul to take up security detail at the main base, she was ready. Ready to find out what had happened to Jeanne-Marie's body, and ready to finally stop agonizing over her dilemma with Gambit. Nothing could be done about the latter, but as for helping Jean-Paul out, she could definitely do that.

Jean-Paul was playing it cool and doing a very good job of acting like tonight's job was no big deal. Rogue suspected that Gambit had wanted Jean-Paul out of the line of duty for his first mission back, and Rogue had been generously grouped with him. At least Gambit knew that she wouldn't hesitate to protect Jean-Paul if the need ever arose again. She still hadn't discovered Gambit's reasons for keeping Jean-Paul protected, but it was something the two had in common and it did make her feel a little bit connected to him.

As she suited up with Jean-Paul, his eagerness and excitement began to show through.

"I can't believe it's finally happening!" Jean-Paul exclaimed as he handed her over a headset and walkie-talkie. "Three years I've been waiting for this moment."

Rogue smiled as she hooked in her ear piece. "Just remember to get the hell out of there if I press the alert button on the radio."

Jean-Paul nodded. "If you press the alarm, I'll be outta there in the blink of an eye. It shouldn't take me that long anyway. Half an hour tops."

Jean-Paul had gone out a few days earlier and bought a pair of small hunting walking-talkies so they could use a different frequency than the ones they usually used with the base equipment. They had decided that they would not discuss anything regarding their plan over the radio waves, unless it was dire. At the same time, they wanted to have some sort of safety feature in case someone showed up while Rogue patrolled the main floor and Jean-Paul broke into the vault. It was moments like these that made Rogue want to tell Jean-Paul about her double life. It also made her want to tell her team about Jean-Paul. She could only imagine the type of gear Forge could have fixed them up with for this escapade.

But, without the luxury of fancy high-tech devices from Forge, she and Jean-Paul were keeping things simple. If someone happened upon Rogue on the main floor, all she had to do was discreetly press the button on the walkie-talkie. It would send a sharp, beeping alarm to Jean-Paul and alert him that there was trouble.

The two were not supposed to be separated while on their patrol, and Jean-Paul had covered that too. If anyone asked, Rogue needed to go to the bathroom, and the only one she could find was the one on the main floor. It was simple and it was pretty believable, Cortez had given her a pretty shoddy tour of the main building—mostly on account of her knocking him out.

Tonight would be dangerous. If they were caught, Rogue couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen to them. She only knew that she would fight tooth and nail to keep herself and Jean-Paul out of harm's way. It was all she could do.

It was very plausible that nothing bad would happen tonight. Jean-Paul had assured her that his speed and agility would keep any alarms from detecting him in the vaults. He'd even managed to acquire the necessary passwords needed to gain access to the vault once he was past the lasers. When she had asked if he was sure the codes would work, he gave her a smug smile and told her he knew his way around a computer. It hinted that his hacking skills could very well rival Kitty's.

Jean-Paul had carefully planned for absolutely any event, and Rogue was impressed by his strategic skills. Rogue would even have gone as far as to say that Jean-Paul planned everything out almost too well, covering even the most ridiculous, outlandish scenarios. It was better safe than sorry in his books.

The giddy sense of fear and anticipation didn't quite leave her though. She knew from past experience that even the best laid plans could turn to shit in the blink of an eye. Even though this was going to be relatively easy in theory, Rogue wasn't going to let her guard down. Tonight was an important night for both of them. Jean-Paul would know where to look for his sister's body, and Rogue would be able to bring information back to the X-men.

Despite the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, Rogue felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. She was beginning to feel like she had found a direction again. She also felt like she was actually doing the job she was sent here to do. Things were starting to look up, and it was all thanks to Jean-Paul and his trust in her.

Once they were both ready to leave, Jean-Paul gave her a nervous grin. "Well...here we go."

Rogue followed after him, a bit concerned when she saw that Jean-Paul was still walking with a slight limp. She really hoped that his desire to find his sister's body had not clouded his judgement in his abilities since being injured. She didn't want to doubt him, but nevertheless, she was worried about it.

He still wouldn't talk about what the twins had done to him and had planned on doing had Rogue not arrived. Rogue knew it would take him time to come to terms with his ordeal. It wasn't something he could easily brush off, though he tried to act like he had. She knew Jean-Paul better than that. Very little was kept from her when she looked into his eyes. They really were the windows to his soul. She was amazed how well he could hide it from everyone else, but then he'd had years to practice guarding himself from the ruthlessness of the other mercs and this place.

It was raining when they got outside, and if it hadn't been for the soft, red glow of his eyes peering from the shadows, she'd never have know that Gambit was out there. She shouldn't have been shocked. Jean-Paul had told her that as soon as it rained, Gambit was outside like clockwork. Tonight was no exception.

She stared, wordlessly at him in the shadows as he merely stared back. Jean-Paul called for her and she tore her gaze from Gambit's.

"You coming or what? We don't want to be late."

"Coming," she answered.

She glanced back once more to where Gambit had been. He was still there. She had half expected him to be gone. He continued to stare out from the darkness and Rogue realized he wasn't staring at her any longer. He was staring past her to Jean-Paul.

"Watch he doesn't push himself," he said softly as if the black night and rain had stolen all the arrogance and demand from his usual voice.

Rogue only nodded and quickly followed after Jean-Paul. She didn't know why Gambit's presence unnerved her, or why his voice made her want to run and hide. There was no danger, no malice and yet it scared her. In those words, she heard that man with the flowers. She was sure that had she been able to flick on a switch and illuminate his face, she'd see him as she did in that gardening picture.

"Get over it, you idiot," she murmured sternly to herself. Just because he could sound compassionate, didn't mean he was. Gambit was a dangerous man, and she was starting to take those warnings to heart. Until she figured out who was responsible for the missing mutants or what had happened to them, she wasn't going to let her guard down around him.

Once Rogue had arrived at the main building with Jean-Paul, they kicked it into high gear. Both had decided to do the job quickly. At least, as quickly as they could after they did their initial rounds. It was solely to make sure they were the only ones in the building rather than a sense of duty—more smart planning from Jean-Paul. It would be a disaster if they started right away with their plan only to have someone working late in the office or something discover them.

Jean-Paul hurried towards the elevator and winced in pain as he stopped just short of the button.

"You okay?" Rogue asked concerned.

"Yeah," he answered meekly. "Every so often I still get a few twinges of pain here and there."

Rogue sighed. This was all her fault. If she hadn't invoked, even goaded on Andrea at times, Jean-Paul would be in tip top shape right now.

"Don't blame yourself," Jean-Paul replied gently as though he could read her mind.

"I'm not—"

"Yes," Jean-Paul interjected. "You are. What happened was not your fault. You weren't the one who decided to go all Dr. Frankenstein on me. If you hadn't have come along when you did—" Jean-Paul froze up. "I-I don't want to think about it."

"You don't have to." Rogue answered.

Jean-Paul took a deep breath and straightened up. "Well, let's get started."

Rogue and Jean-Paul did a thorough check of each floor, making sure that they were indeed all by themselves in the building. Once Jean-Paul was satisfied with the check, they decided to go ahead with their plan. Rogue left Jean-Paul on the eighth floor and headed back to the main floor to keep watch.

She nervously paced the main floor, keeping a close eye on the time. Jean-Paul would hopefully have what he needed within the half hour. At least that was what he predicted. So far, so good. Nothing was out of place or suspicious. No one was here and Rogue began to relax. Jean-Paul had been gone for at least fifteen minutes.

A crackling on her headset made her jump.

"I'm taking my twenty minute break," Jean-Paul said over the headset. It was code for needing more time. Jean-Paul had gotten into the vault but was having trouble finding his sister's written records.

"Roger," she answered back.

The walkie-talkie went dead and silence filled the air again. Rogue began to fidget nervously. Jean-Paul sounded all right. He didn't sound frustrated or aggravated, which meant he was still confident he would find what he was looking for.

Not once had they considered the possibility that there was nothing on Jeanne-Marie being kept in the vault. The possibility occurred to Rogue now. What would they do if there were no records? Worse, how would Jean-Paul take it? She hoped he wasn't up there tearing the place apart. They needed to be as low key as possible. There could be no evidence whatsoever left behind that they had been in the vault.

As the minutes slowly ticked away, Rogue was becoming increasingly more nervous. What was taking him so long? All the possible scenarios played through in her mind. Some good, some bad.

"Where is Jean-Paul?"

Rogue screeched in terror as the voice echoing her own thoughts cut through the silence from behind her. She whipped around to come face to face with Gambit. Jesus! She hadn't even heard him until he was almost directly behind her and he'd spoken. She quickly scanned the area to determine where he had come from. Rogue could only assume that he'd come in from the back door since she'd been watching the front. He had certainly not been here when they had done their check earlier, so why was he here now?

Rogue immediately pressed the button to sound the alarm to Jean-Paul. She placed her hand on her hip, discreetly masking the movement.

Panic overwhelmed her when she couldn't hear the loud beeping of the alarm in her earpiece. Jean-Paul had tested the equipment earlier this evening. The alarm had worked fine then, why not now? Rogue wracked her brain for an answer.

They hadn't tested the walkie-talkies in the building.

It didn't make sense. She had heard Jean-Paul loud and clear earlier while here...but that didn't necessarily mean that Jean-Paul had been able to hear _her _reply.

Shit.

Rogue would have to stall Gambit and hope that Jean-Paul would be finishing up in the vault very soon.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded of Gambit briskly. The sentence would have sounded guilty had she not used the angry, accusing tone. Instead, it came off as anything but suspicious. If Rogue could keep him talking...

Gambit bristled at her tone, and Rogue wondered if he would actually answer her. In the past, he would have, but now she wasn't so sure. In fact, he looked like he wasn't taking too kindly to being ordered about by her. Instantly, Rogue regretted her tactics. She had forgotten that Gambit had tolerated much of her attitude in the past because he had the hots for her and thought it was 'cute'. That wasn't the case now.

"Jean-Paul's pulse fluctuated, spiking up unexpectedly. It's normal now, but I didn't want a repeat of—" Gambit closed his mouth abruptly, catching his mistake and glared at her. "Never mind. Where is he?"

For a moment he had fallen back into his easy manner with her. He'd realized it, and had changed his attitude. Rogue winced inside. She really had royally screwed up. Had she managed to stay on good terms with Gambit, she'd be able to keep him talking. She knew he blamed himself as well for what had happened to Jean-Paul, and now he was on high alert, monitoring him carefully.

Rogue knew the Jean-Paul's spike in pulse was due to him using his mutation to zip past the lasers guarding the vault. What she and Jean-Paul hadn't realized when they had planned this mission was that Gambit kept track of Jean-Paul's vitals. Jean-Paul had accounted for everything but that. It was so obvious to her now that Rogue felt incredibly inept for not having thought of it herself.

Damn, she cursed silently.

It was up to her to keep them from being caught.

"Well?" Gambit inquired impatiently.

"He's on the eighth floor, doing the rounds," she answered, knowing it wouldn't do any good to lie about where Jean-Paul was.

Gambit folded his arms across his chest. "And why is it that you are down here on the main floor when you should be up on the eighth with him?"

"I-I had to go to the bathroom," Rogue stammered. It was the first time she felt unnerved, even frightened by what Gambit might do.

"And you couldn't use the bathroom on that floor?"

"If I knew where it was...all I ever saw was a big metal door and a hallway." Rogue answered lightly.

Gambit rolled his eyes in annoyance before he walked past her, heading for the elevator. He angrily jabbed the button and the door opened instantly. Rogue quickly dashed after him.

He eyed her suspiciously as she stepped into the elevator with him. "I thought you said you had to go to the bathroom."

"I did already," Rogue lied earnestly. "I was on my way back when you surprised me."

Gambit didn't answer her as the elevator door closed. He pressed the button for the eighth floor and the elevator began to move.

She had less than two minutes before Gambit discovered what she and Jean-Paul were up to.

Her mind cried in a frenzied panic.

_Do something!_

All right, she could admit to herself that there were certainly better options. She just couldn't think of any fast enough before her hand shot forward, slamming the emergency stop on the elevator. She needed to buy Jean-Paul time and sadly, once again, she'd resorted to unscrupulous tactics to solve pressing problems with Gambit. She was beginning to wonder if it was just easier this way than it was to come up with something else, and probably less effective. Or if it was because she had very little control over her emotions regarding him these days.

When she pulled her hand from the elevator's control panel, she turned to face him. Faint shock sifted from his intense gaze the minute she met his eyes. Nothing ever surprised Gambit for long, but almost everything made him wary.

_Don't give him time to get suspicious_, her mind whispered. _Don't hesitate or he'll know something's up._

She had already taken too long. She could see the wariness of her abrupt actions flicker coarsely across face. She was sure he was mentally questioning her right now.

She forced herself to step closer to him, almost daring him to touch her. At this close of range there would be no mistaking to him why she'd stopped the elevator so hastily. For good measure, she licked her lip suggestively.

He made no move towards her. It was almost as if he was trying to decipher her signals before acting. She tilted her head up towards his, drawing her lips as close to his as she could without actually touching. "I can't stand this anymore."

"You know we shouldn't be doing this," he whispered, dipping his head downwards to meet her lips, effectively taking the bait.

It was almost too easy to ensnare him, and for that, she felt bad. She'd never wanted to become a femme fatale, being all hard-to-get or seductive whenever the need arose, especially with her uncertainty about him circling her brain. But fate seemed to leave her with less and less of a choice when dealing with him. She could use his attraction and desire for her to her advantage. Thankfully, he still harboured such feelings for her; otherwise he wouldn't have been eagerly kissing her.

Rogue darted her tongue from her mouth, sensually drawing a line with it across his lips before Gambit snapped into aggressive action. It seemed she'd managed to break his control over the situation.

He had her pinned up against the mirrored elevator wall, shoving his tongue down her throat in the neediest of gestures. She knew the game, the stakes, and kissed him back with the same intensity, making him believe she too, felt the same sense of urgency he did. Admittedly, it wasn't that hard. She _had_ missed this, and that scared her.

She knew she was attracted to him, and she also knew she shouldn't be. Her indecisiveness and motives weren't fair to him. It wasn't fair to toy with his emotions. It wasn't fair to play with his heart. It wasn't fair to take advantage of the only moments he ever seemed to be honest. Yet, she did it anyway, and each time she swallowed down the increasing lumps of guilt that arose within her as she took advantage of the man.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She had never meant to carry it this far. The man was in love with her for Christ's sake and she was using it, using him. She hated that she had become this way with him, but at the same time she equally loved it. She got such a thrill from his touch, such forbidden sensations. He was just as irresistible to her as she was to him.

She sighed as his hand feverishly slipped up under her shirt. He'd mistaken it as a sigh of pleasure, rather than despair. He didn't know any better; she had led him on again on purpose. Oh well, better this than Jean-Paul's head on a platter. She arched her back brushing her body up against his, causing him to moan into her neck and increase his fumbling under her shirt.

It wasn't long before he had pulled her T-shirt up over her breasts and unclasped her bra. His hands hungrily pawed her newly exposed flesh. She reveled in his touch. She couldn't deny that she wanted more from him, but she also couldn't deny that having sex with him in the elevator would be a bad idea. It was hard to forget that she was a virgin, and she didn't need Gambit discovering that bit of info while in a confined space with her.

Nothing screamed suspicion like a virgin wantonly throwing herself at him in a very unvirginal place. She was already on very thin ice, no need to crack it now.

His hands moved from her breasts, firmly gripping her waist as he hiked her body up in that old familiar way that reminded her of their encounter in the rain. He was hard, ready, waiting for the perfect moment. She moaned softly as the heat of his touch tore through her most intimate parts. Arousal flooded through her as she pressed her body roughly into his.

"Why can't I stay away from you?" he whispered in a tortured, husky tone.

"Because I can't stay away from you," she answered back.

Gambit gave a low growl and spun them around so he was now up against the wall. He gently lifted her off of him and place her feet back on the ground. He tipped his head back in agony, resting it against the elevator wall. Rogue could see the turmoil in his face as he struggled with what he should and should not be doing. He'd never have to deal with this if she'd have thought of some other way to stall him. Something less private to distract him from discovering Jean-Paul in the vault.

She was tearing the man apart, and she knew it. All their moments, all their words, games, and actions were catching up to him and he was weary of it all. Yet, whenever she came to him, he couldn't resist. He was trying to pull away from her emotionally, and Rogue knew she should let him. The decent person that resided in the back of her brain knew it was the right thing to do.

But sometimes for the greater good, the wrong thing was necessary.

"I never know which direction you are moving in," he admitted with an exhausted sigh.

"I'm moving downwards," she purred, sliding her hands along his chest as she sunk down to her knees.

"Ah Dieu!" he hissed in pleasure laced with anguish.

She ran her hand suggestively over his erection. He gasped at her touch before his hand jerked hers away.

"You shouldn't be—we shouldn't be—this is a really bad idea," he fumbled uncharacteristically.

It was the first time she'd caught Gambit at a loss for words. It was ridiculously cute watching him try to resist her touch. She smiled and bent her mouth down towards his zipper. He jumped backwards, forgetting he was now up against the wall with nowhere to go.

"If you don't want this," she replied coyly, "all you have to do is say so."

Being bolder than she'd ever been before, she nipped the zipper tab with her teeth, tugging it gently. Gambit whimpered in delight.

"Come on," she teased. "Tell me you don't want this." Her hands slipped up his thighs while she brought the zipper down with her teeth.

"I do," he whispered, his breath catching as she dipped her hand into his underwear to free him. "I really want this, but—"

She peered up quizzically at him. "But what?"

She could swear his cheeks reddened as he spoke.

"But it's been awhile since I've been with anyone…I might…It might be—" He looked away from her before mumbling his last word. "—quick."

Rogue couldn't help but grin. The infamous Gambit was deeply concerned about his stamina. If only he knew just how inexperienced she really was. Like she had any idea how long something like this was supposed to take. She had her own problems to worry about, for instance what the hell she was supposed to be doing.

She shrugged. He was just as out of practice as she was. It definitely made the situation less intimidating.

"Don't worry about it," she murmured before she plunged forward and drew her tongue slowly up his shaft. He inhaled sharply as his cock twitched in response to her touch. It was a very promising start and gave Rogue the confidence she needed to continue such an intimate act.

It was the first time she had actively sought to give him pleasure. At first it was an impulsive idea to avoid actual intercourse, except she quickly realized that what they were doing seemed much more intimate. It took a fair amount of trust for a man to let a woman near his most valued parts with her teeth. Gambit seemed to trust her wholeheartedly as his body responded eagerly to everything she did.

She took him slowly at first, getting used to his length and size, then once getting the hang of what worked, she moved over him like she'd done this to him many times before. He moaned and gasped and Rogue realized that he was getting a little more than she had bargained for when she caught a glimpse of their bodies in the mirrored elevator walls.

It appeared that she had trapped Gambit, who had already voiced his concerns about a quick performance, in his own private porno. The man could see what they were doing in almost every angle imaginable. It was no wonder that when she glanced up at him, his head was tipped up towards the blank ceiling. It wouldn't help him in the end as Rogue wickedly drew her hand up along his shaft while impishly sucking the tip.

He stiffened and came in what Rogue was unsure was good timing or not. Nevertheless, he looked completely and utterly satisfied with the turn of events. He had a dopey, dreamy sort of look on his face before his phone rang, jarring him and forcing him to snap back to attention and reality. He guiltily reached into his pocket as though he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

Rogue began to wonder if maybe they had been caught. Gambit answered the phone, balancing it in the crook of his neck as he hastily dressed and straightened himself up. He cleared his throat before speaking into the phone.

Rogue quietly put her own clothes back in order, silently hoping she'd given Jean-Paul ample time to get out of the vault. Before she knew it, Gambit was hitting the button to start the elevator back up.

"No, I'm checking on him now," Gambit was saying into the phone. "I know, but the elevator gave me a bit of trouble. Have to get maintenance to check it tomorrow."

Rogue raised her eyebrows at his blatant lie. She hadn't really expected him to tell the truth, but then she hadn't expected anyone to phone and check up on him. How strange. It was very apparent that Jean-Paul was surprisingly important to the MRD. Much more important than she had first realized.

Gambit hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

A weirdness hung in the air between them. It was unmistakeable, even tangible. Things had gotten too intimate between them. Now, after their abrupt interruption, things had gotten awkward and horribly uncomfortable.

And Rogue knew why. For the first time since she and Gambit had been entangled in their strange attraction, Gambit had finally let his guard all the way down. It wasn't a coincidence that she had finally been the one to give him pleasure when before it had always been him trying to please her. He had _let_ her.

And that meant only one thing to her.

Gambit had fallen for her hard. Hard enough to completely lose himself in her touch, something he had refused to do earlier.

Rogue bit her lip in distress.

She had only been trying to stall. Distract. Anything to keep Gambit from catching Jean-Paul.

What the hell had she just done?

She had little time to dwell on the consequences of her rushed actions as the elevator came to a stop on the eighth floor.

More pressing matters were about to come up.


	22. Chapter 22

As the elevator door began to open, Rogue glanced at her watch and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She'd managed to buy Northstar plenty of time to finish up before she arrived with Gambit in tow, and if Jean-Paul could keep his mouth shut, Gambit wouldn't be any the wiser. Provided Jean-Paul wasn't still in the vault.

Her body tensed as the doors opened. Relief trickled in when she could see Jean-Paul standing on the other side of the elevator. But they weren't out of hot water yet. Rogue held her breath and crossed her fingers.

_Please don't let Gambit figure it out by saying something stupid, _she prayed silently to her friend.

"Rogue!" Jean-Paul cried in alarm. "What are—"Jean-Paul stopped in mid sentence when he realized she wasn't alone.

Rogue willed him to keep quiet as his eyes trailed quizzically over Gambit.

"What took you so long?" Jean-Paul asked rather casually, recovering from his initial surprise. "I thought maybe you had fallen in. I was starting to get worried."

"The elevator got stuck," Gambit answered. His voice was cold and even as he spoke. "You know how these old buildings are."

"Of course." Jean-Paul smiled and stepped into the elevator, but not before he gave Rogue a quick, knowing smirk. The mischievous twinkle in his eye warned her that he knew exactly what had taken her so long. He stood directly in between her and Gambit.

"How pleasant to see you, sir," Jean-Paul greeted Gambit politely once the elevator was moving again. "I was not aware that you would be joining us on our patrol."

Rogue frowned. Jean-Paul never referred to Gambit as 'sir'.

"Just checking up," Gambit answered mildly. "It's one of my responsibilities to make sure performance levels are peak."

Jean-Paul made a muffled sort of noise and bit his lip to keep from laughing at the dirty play on words obviously rolling through his head. Rogue nudged her elbow sharply into his ribs as a sign for him to quit it. This was not the time or the place for any of Jean-Paul's wisecracking.

He cleared his throat of any laughter before opening his mouth to answer Gambit, "Of course, sir." He gave a short pause before he continued again with remarkable composure, "By the way, sir, your shirt is caught in your pants zipper."

Rogue wanted to crawl into a hole and die of mortification. It was bad enough that things were weird between her and Gambit. She didn't need it showcased by Jean-Paul, who found the whole situation highly amusing. However, his glib attitude meant that things had gone well in the vault.

"Uh, thank you," Gambit muttered, fixing himself in a hasty, embarrassed fashion as the elevator reached the main level and stopped. The door opened and Gambit all but ran from the elevator. It took him a moment to compose himself and replace his red cheeks with cold eyes.

"Your pulse spiked unexpectedly," Gambit remarked in an excessively stern voice to Jean-Paul once they were all out of the elevator. He was desperately trying to reestablish his control and authority. "I demand an explanation."

"Oh, that." Jean-Paul waved his hand carelessly. "I tripped and fell backwards. It gave me quite a fright."

"Because of your limp?" Rogue added helpfully.

Jean-Paul nodded earnestly. "But I'm fine, not a big deal."

"You two will report back to the base immediately with no delays," Gambit instructed coldly. "Northstar, you are back on bed rest."

Jean-Paul scowled. "Understood," he answered glumly, but as Gambit took his leave, Jean-Paul began nonchalantly humming Areosmith's 'Love in an Elevator'. That quickened Gambit's steps considerably, and soon he was out of sight.

"Oh, shut up!" Rogue grumbled when Jean-Paul broke into the lyrics. "Would you rather have gotten caught?"

Jean-Paul smiled. "I can't believe you just boinked Gambit in an elevator for little ol' me."

"For the last time, I didn't _boink_ him!" Rogue shot back, tired of the assumption.

"Well, he looked pretty disheveled for you to have not boinked him." As soon as the words were out of Jean-Paul's mouth, realization hit him. Jean-Paul's eyes lit up with glee. "Oh. My. God. You sucked him off in an elevator!"

"I had to stall him somehow! Otherwise it'd have been both our hides!" Rogue snapped defensively. Her cheeks had definitely gotten redder when he'd figured out what she'd been up to.

"I don't think you'd mind letting him tan your hide." Jean-Paul smirked.

"Oh, just _shut up!_" Rogue cried in exasperation. "It's not something I'm particularly proud of!" In an effort to rid herself of any trace of the past incident with Gambit, she sloppily began trying to fix her messed up hair a little better.

Jean-Paul's face softened. He reached up to gently smooth out her tussled hair, neatly pinning it back into place. Rogue's hands dropped in defeat to her sides. It was always a bad sign when a man could fix her hair better than she could.

"I know it's not something you are proud of," he said seriously. "No one's ever gone to extreme measures for me like _that_ before. Nobody. Not even Jeanne-Marie. It's kinda nice to know that someone thinks I'm worth it."

She shied away as more heat rose to her cheeks. "Come on, it's not that big of a deal."

"But it is," he insisted. "Seriously, Rogue. You're the only friend I've got."

"Do you think he suspects anything?" she asked warily.

Jean-Paul shook his head. "I'd say you effectively managed to blow his mind while blowing him. I've never seen him look so disorganized and dippy."

She sighed, choosing to ignore his clever play on words. "Did you at least get everything you needed up there?"

He nodded. "Hopefully with this—" He pulled a packet of papers out from under his shirt and the back of his pants. "—I've got some stepping stones to follow."

"I'm glad." Rogue smiled.

"That I got this or that your efforts weren't in vain?"

Rogue groaned. Jean-Paul was officially back to being, well, Jean-Paul.

"That you got the information!" Rogue replied snappishly.

"So question for you—" Jean-Paul grinned, his eyes dancing with lit mischief again. "Would you have done it with anybody or just him?"

Rogue's jaw dropped in disgust and outrage. "What kind of thing is that to ask?"

He laughed merrily, before he gave a sly smirk. "I mean would you have used the same tactic if it was Cortez or Longshot?"

"No!" Rogue shouted aghast. "Good Lord, Jean-Paul! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Oh? So it's monogamy then, is that it?" he teased. "It's perfectly fine if it's only with Gambit."

"Look," Rogue began, a little defeated and tired of his constant jabs. "With him it's just… I don't know, easier this way." She fumbled awkwardly with her sleeve. "He's too smart for any of the lies and excuses I could feed the others, this way…" Her voice trailed off.

"This way allows you to secretly like him, despite everything," Jean-Paul finished.

"I do not!" she protested loudly. "It's not like that at all!"

Jean Paul only raised his eyebrows as though her outburst had confirmed it all.

"I don't!" she barked again defensively. "And even if I did, it's not like anything would ever come of it. We're two completely different people!" When Jean-Paul remained silent, she continued on, "And he's cold! The coldest, man I've ever met, and…and he's cruel, and barbaric, and uncouth, and—"

"You're completely falling in love with him," Jean-Paul replied, rather amused.

"Stop saying that!" she wailed helplessly. Okay, so maybe there was a tiny, tiny part of her that could admit her attraction was turning into something else, but that was completely understandable and justified. They'd been intimate together and despite who Gambit was, he was a very attentive lover behind closed doors.

She had to convince herself that it was part of his slick charm and nothing more. She hadn't fallen for him. She hadn't. Outside of his physical appearance and sexual prowess, there was nothing there that she liked. Nothing. And that was final.

"Well, there is certainly something about _you_ that _he_ likes," Jean-Paul commented. "I've seen a lot of girls come and go through the MRD and not a single one has been able to control him the way you do."

"I don't have any control over him!" Rogue argued helplessly, knowing full well that she did.

"Sure you don't," Jean-Paul mocked sarcastically. "You bat your eyes in his direction and he comes running. The best part is that he still does it _after_ you've already been with him or told him off. That's the real kicker there. No matter how many times you claim you're finished with him, he's not finished with you."

Rogue crossed her arms. "Whose side are you on anyway?"

He patted her arm softly, almost pitying. "Yours, sweetie."

Rogue slumped her shoulders and sighed. "I'm falling for a murderer. How much farther down can I sink?" She buried her head in her hands.

Jean-Paul chuckled. "I hate to break it to you, but you might want to consider a career change if you want to meet nice men. The mercenary scene isn't known for its choice cuts in decent mutants. Still, you could have done worse—you could have fallen for Andreas!"

"Ugh!" Rogue groaned miserably.

Jean-Paul shrugged sympathetically. "At least he didn't kill the twins."

Rogue snapped her head up in shock. "What?"

"He couldn't have," Jean-Paul explained. "He was watching over me in your room while the twins were being escorted out of the building."

"How do you know?"

Jean-Paul rolled his eyes. "For starters, I'm not blind. When I regained consciousness, I saw Gambit sitting in a chair beside my bed. I'm also not deaf. I could hear the ruckus Andrea was making all the way up in your room." He grinned. "That woman has a set of lungs like banshee. I'll bet they had at least five MRD agents just on her!"

Rogue smirked and shook her head. Leave it to Jean-Paul to find Andrea's disgrace amusing, even after what she'd done to him.

"Anyway, that incident got me thinking about who the real culprit is," Jean-Paul admitted.

"Why?" Rogue interrupted eagerly, not wanting to admit that she had been starting to think the same thing herself.

"Um, because Gambit was sitting in a chair at my bedside during the whole incident."

"He could have gone afterwards, Cortez said you'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for days," Rogue replied diplomatically. Still, she wanted to believe that Gambit was potentially off the hook.

"See, I thought that too," Jean-Paul began. "But every time, and I mean _every time_, I woke up, Gambit was in that chair. Sometimes I'd be out for hours. Other times, a few minutes, but whenever I opened my eyes, he was keeping watch. You'd almost think he was on guard or something."

It was almost too good to be true. Gambit had an alibi, except with Jean-Paul being out for a few hours, it didn't make it a solid alibi. Rogue wanted to believe that she had been right about Gambit and that there was something good in him, but just because she wanted it, it didn't make the facts any less true.

"You were still unconscious for hours at a time."

"Yeah, but how could he know when I was going to wake up? Nobody could have anticipated when I'd be conscious or not, and for him to be there every single time—it means that he never left."

Rogue had to agree. Even for Gambit, it seemed like an impossible task. It meant that maybe her suspicions of Longshot weren't as farfetched as she'd originally believed.

"So who do you think is responsible?" Rogue asked.

Jean-Paul shook his head softly. "I have no idea. Someone close to Gambit, since all the disappearances seemed to circle around him."

"What do you think of the possibility that it could be Longshot?" Rogue broached carefully.

Jean-Paul's eyes widened. "I know you well enough that you wouldn't just throw out a name unless you had something to back it."

Rogue nodded, and quickly explained her bizarre conversation with Longshot at the art gallery.

"That's super weird," Jean-Paul agreed. "And rather creepy when you think about it."

"That's what I thought."

"I guess we'd better be on our guard. You especially, now that you and Gambit are on again. Longshot won't be too pleased about that."

"Maybe we can use that to lure him out," Rogue mused.

Jean-Paul shuddered. "I don't like that idea. I've already lost my sister, if I lost you too—"

"I'll be careful."

Jean-Paul sighed. "You're going to go ahead and use yourself as bait regardless of how much I object, aren't you?"

"I need to know the truth, Jean-Paul. You know better than anyone how important that is."

Jean-Paul shifted the documents in his hands. "I know. We'd better get back to the base. At least with my bed rest I can look at these in peace." He tucked the papers back under his shirt. "Promise me you won't leave me out of any crazy schemes to catch a killer."

"Only if you promise to take me with you when you find Jeanne-Marie's body."

"I wouldn't dream of going without you." Jean-Paul winked. "Who knows, maybe if we're lucky our plans will collide and turn into one."

Rogue scoffed playfully. "Optimist."

As they headed towards the exit, Jean-Paul stopped abruptly. "Hey, what are you going to do when you get to the bottom of all these disappearances?"

"Well, if it turns out Gambit isn't involved, I'll most likely boink him," she joked.

Jean-Paul laughed. "Seriously though, you're the only merc that's ever come through our doors that has actually cared about the other mutants, has managed to sway Gambit _and_ has deliberately helped out someone other than themselves. What's the deal? I mean I know you're here for that hefty paycheck, but is it really worth it all when you obviously don't agree with what's going on here?"

Rogue pondered what answer she should give. She knew that sooner or later Jean-Paul would begin to question why she did the things she did. Despite passing the initial MRD test on paper, she was a bit of an oddity within the merc ranks. She did care, and the others did notice. And in spending so much time with Jean-Paul, he was beginning to read her as well as she could read him.

"Honestly," Rogue answered. "I'm not sure why I'm here, or for that matter, still here. I wanted to be able to buy my own private beach somewhere and just disappear from the world." She shrugged. "This job gives me the financial ability to do that in a reasonable amount of time, despite its unpleasantness. Call it planning for my future."

"You sound just as happy to be here as I am," Jean-Paul quipped drolly.

"Sometimes I feel like I bit off way more than I can chew, signing up with this place. I dunno, it certainly isn't what I thought it was."

"Yeah, it never is." Jean-Paul pushed open the door. "But, hey! At least we were able to meet each other."

"It's one of the things about this place I don't regret."

"Me either."

It was in that moment that Rogue decided she would take Jean-Paul with her when she was finished her job here. She knew Logan would disagree to her bringing Jean-Paul back to the mansion, but she didn't care. Jean-Paul wasn't a mercenary. He had been a poor, misguided victim that the MRD exploited. She wouldn't allow him to be further victimized after she left. She'd make Logan see reason, and Jean-Paul would finally have a safe haven where he would be able to fully begin to heal from the monstrosities he'd experienced here.


	23. Chapter 23

When Rogue arrived back at the base, Jean-Paul headed straight for his room. He had been ordered back on bed rest, but Rogue knew he wanted to look over the documents he'd taken from the vault. Rogue hoped that Jean-Paul would find the answers he needed. It was lucky that he'd been given the opportunity to fully read everything over in private. She imagined that as excited as Jean-Paul was to have a breakthrough, he was also equally emotional. It would be hard for him to read his sister's files.

Rogue was about to head upstairs herself when Longshot slithered from out of the meeting room.

"_He_ wants to talk to you." Longshot sneered before he breezed up the stairs to his own room.

Of course Gambit did. After what happened between them earlier, he had every reason to want to see her. Only Rogue had no idea what to expect. Would he pull away again? Or would he pull her near? He was just as up in the air about his feelings as she was.

Earlier she had come to realize that she had become a seductress, using her wiles to snare Gambit whenever she saw fit. She was also quick to hold her distance and push him away when it was convenient for her. She had never wanted to be that way. She had never wanted to use sex and attraction as a tool, but it had come down to that. She'd been desperate and had used what she had to make things work in her favour. She shouldn't feel bad about that. She was just doing her job.

No matter how many times she told herself it wasn't a big deal, she knew it was. As always, Jean-Paul was right on the money. She was falling in love with Gambit and because of that, she was royally screwing things up here. Eventually if she kept on this path, she'd have to fess up about her lack of experience with men. She had no idea how she was going to explain why she, a virgin, was constantly jumping at him. It would certainly raise questions she wasn't sure how to answer.

She found him in the meeting room in what she had now come to call 'Gambit's chair' since he always sat in the same ratty, old spot. He looked broody and pensive, not what Rogue considered to be a good sign. The room was even poorly lit, casting moody shadows around the room and on his face. She hesitated in closing the door this time.

He motioned for her to close the door, almost as if he didn't notice or care that she was apprehensive about doing it. She shut the door slowly, reveling in the last bits of light from the hallway before the door clicked shut, encasing them in the eerie dim lighting.

"Your suitor has been phoning all evening for you again." Gambit spoke clearly and precisely as though he'd had to practice saying the words beforehand. "Longhsot's been taking the calls and making excuses while you were out."

"Oh?"

"That's awfully quick in between dates, wouldn't you say?" There was no mistaking the sharp edge to his voice.

Rogue wasn't sure where this was going. "Isn't that a good thing? I am supposed to be gaining his support for the MRD, or had you forgotten?"

His face darkened considerably. "No, I hadn't _forgotten_." He practically spat the word at her.

Rogue couldn't help but roll her eyes. _And_ here was jealous Gambit making his appearance again.

"I'm just doing my job," she reminded him.

"Yes, Longshot mentioned you were doing quite well at your _job_. One has to wonder if you've been practicing your _job_ on me first."

Rogue's jaw almost dropped at the accusation. Well, that certainly answered her question in regards to what Longshot had been saying about her.

"I didn't realize you took everything Longshot said at face value," she replied as calmly as she could.

His eyes glanced up at her inquisitively. "Shouldn't I?"

Rogue gave a nonchalant shrug, trying to downplay her anger. It would do no good to have both of them screaming at each other. "Well, if you two are so close, I'm sure Longshot _must_ have mentioned his _lovely_ conversation with me the other day."

Gambit straightened up slowly, never taking his eyes off of her. "I'm afraid he failed to mention that. I wouldn't mind being enlightened."

"In short, he told me to stay away from you."

"Did he now?"

"He also made it very clear that he was purposely spying on me, trying to ruin my reputation within the ranks."

"I see." His voice was hollow.

Rogue clenched her jaw. He didn't believe her.

Annoyed, she replied back, "I'd give you an answer to the question you _all but asked_ if I thought you'd actually believe what I would tell you." Rogue hesitated. "Now, I'm not so sure. I suppose trust goes both ways."

"You never did defend yourself against the accusations."

"Because I don't have any reason to defend myself to you. You either believe me or you don't."

Gambit's eyes narrowed warily. "And what if I demanded an answer from you anyway?

"I'd have told you that you were being jealous again." Rogue turned towards the door to leave. She'd had enough of this little conversation. If he didn't believe her then that was his own fault.

He called after her. "And if I didn't believe you?"

Rogue rolled her eyes again. Of course he would go there. She turned back to him. "Then nothing I would say would make you believe otherwise."

"So how would we solve this?"

It was an interesting choice of words and it gave her pause. He used 'we' instead of 'I' or 'you'. It wasn't solely her problem or just his. He'd made it out to be their problem, like they were in an actual relationship. He wouldn't have said something like that unless he actually thought they were in a relationship. The thought made her unexpectedly giddy. She had to will herself not to answer or act stupidly. Lies would unravel and truths would reveal themselves quickly if she wasn't careful.

"I know the truth, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to say it." She turned back to the door to leave.

The minute she'd opened the door barely a crack, he was there, pressing his hand firmly against the wood. He'd closed her in again, this time with the door and his body. Being so close to him was almost unbearable. He'd been hurt by whatever Longshot had said about her, and she could easily remedy that by revealing the truth. She couldn't be what Longshot said she was, because she was still a virgin.

"Just tell me," his voice was stern, but his eyes were pleading. "I swear I'll believe you."

Rogue shook her head softly. She could tell the truth, but she knew he wouldn't believe it, not with the things she'd already done with him. It was almost ridiculous to expect him to believe her. He'd had a past of being used, being lied to, it made him wary and distrustful of women. It had made him already expect her to lie to him. He was needy right now, vulnerable...

"Please," he whispered.

She could fix this. She could make him see the truth. She just had to find the courage. It surprised her that her only worry was getting up the nerve to make the first move. She'd always been the one to make the first move. Ever since they'd started this bizarre relationship, she had been the one to expand upon her comfort level. He always went along with it, following her lead.

It seemed it had always been up to her. He'd always be cautious and careful, even the times he'd been flirty, he'd always been guarded or held off. The times when he had managed to lose himself, it was because she had responded back in kind with the same desperate neediness.

She couldn't help but see him for who he really was now. A weary, lost soul, needing to feel loved, going along with whatever she decided in hopes of winning her sole affection.

The reasonable part of her mind shook its head disapprovingly. So it had finally come to this.

Rogue softened her gaze and gently brushed her hand across Gambit's cheek. The world could be damned. _She_ could be damned. She didn't care anymore about anything except the two of them.

"It's always been only you," she responded.

He had her in his arms within seconds. She relished the embrace. There was something about his arms that made her feel safe and warm despite the distinct air of danger that surrounded him. She knew all the warnings by heart, and still she refused to heed them. This was going to be a train wreck waiting to happen. She didn't care.

When his lips met hers it was passionate, desperate and filled with such heat that scalding was very much a possibility. But then that was Gambit, he never did anything half assed.

I want you. I need you. I missed you. I love you. All the things he would never say out loud, she could taste in his kiss.

It was sheer recklessness on her part to pursue a man when she was here in the first place under false pretenses, but she couldn't help herself. She knew she couldn't reveal who she really was, that would be stupid. Probably the stupidest thing she'd ever conceived of doing.

It wasn't like Gambit was a fount of truth himself. And it wasn't like they needed complete honesty to be together. Right now they just needed a small amount of reassurance to smooth things over between them. They had crossed lines earlier this evening. Gambit had finally let his guard down only to have Longshot spread filthy lies. It had worked effectively enough to have Gambit doubting her and himself. Rogue couldn't have that. She just couldn't.

She was in love with the man despite everything, and he was in love with her. As far as she could see that trumped all else. Even her mission here. If something came up because of this later on, well, she'd deal with that when the time came.

She had never felt an overwhelming sense of love for anyone until Gambit and she wasn't about to hide it or waste it any longer. Too long she'd been alone. Too long she'd felt neglected and uncared for, and then she'd met him. Whatever his reasons, he'd made her feel special, like she was the only girl in the world. As far as she was concerned, he was the only man.

It was why she could walk head first into disaster. This was going to be worth every fallout imaginable.

Gambit's hands began to slide up under her shirt and she stopped him. She wouldn't do this here in the meeting room. This would not be cheapened in any way. If she was going to do this, it would be in a bedroom.

"Not here," she whispered. "I don't want this hurried or rushed."

He nodded slowly as her words sunk in. If he'd had any doubts earlier about where this was going, he didn't now. The unspoken agreement hung in the air. Past this point, there was no more pretending, no more denying and no more avoiding.

Wordlessly, he followed her out of the room and back to her bedroom. Once the door was shut, Rogue felt her nerves kick in. It had been a long time since she'd been nervous around him.

"So, um..." she started stupidly, fidgeting with her hair.

He wasted no time sweeping her back into his arms and down onto her bed. Thank God, one of them knew what they were doing. It was silly to feel awkward about this, it wouldn't be all that different from any other time she'd been with him—except this time they would actually consummate their feelings to the full physical extent. No small feat by any means, but not one to panic over either.

He had a way about him that calmed her to the very core, yet excited her at the exact same time and soon she forgot all about her worries and jitters. To him, she was perfect, imperfections and all.

His lips danced hotly over her body as he slowly peeled her clothes away, relishing in each new area exposed to him. Rogue shivered at his touch, returning the favour to him. His shirt slipped easily over his head and she wandered her tongue over every delectable inch of that lean, sculpted torso.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he murmured against her skin, sending delicious chills up her spine from his breath.

"Yes, we should be," she whispered back, dipping her tongue lower and reaching for the zipper on his pants.

"I'm...I'm not exactly the kind of man you think I am," he asserted, trying to pull away. "There are things about me..."

She wouldn't let him retreat now. "We all have secrets," she answered, pinning him to the bed and eliminating any escape route he may have planned.

He moaned softly as her body pressed against his, proof she was winning the argument.

"I'll only end up hurting you in the end."

"Likewise, then," she replied with a devilish wink. It was closer to the truth than she wanted to admit.

"But—"

She pressed a soft finger to his lips and he nipped at it gently, effectively forgetting why he was suddenly objecting to this union in the first place.

"We've already decided to both hurt each other in the end. It's settled. Now we can forget about it and carry on."

He grinned. "You are unbelievable. I've never met anyone quite like you."

Rogue couldn't help but kiss him. His smile had matched the one in his photo exactly. Irresistible. There was no doubt in her mind that he was exactly who she thought he was. To prove it, she hurried her hands down to his zipper and began to slide his pants off.

In turn, he quickly slipped the rest of her clothing off, trailing his lips over her bare skin. "I've wanted to do this for so long." He sighed, rubbing his hands lavishly over her breasts. "From the moment I first saw you, I wanted this."

It was a huge step for him to reveal such a desire aloud, and Rogue refused to waste it.

"I've only ever wanted you," she reaffirmed.

It was as though she had given him the winning lottery ticket. Whatever inhibitions he'd had, they were long gone now. Desperation and desire mingled together so perfectly that Rogue had no idea where one ended and the other began. They were two lost souls who had finally found solace in each other.

He moved over her flesh with a rabid frenzy and she ached to have more. Nothing he did was enough. She needed him in a way she had never needed anything or anyone.

His hands teased. His lips taunted. She returned everything in kind until neither could stand the maddening foreplay any longer. He'd never felt so hot, so hard. Her body craved him to the point that she ached for his touch. She'd never be satisfied until she had him fully.

And just when she thought she'd go insane from want, he swiftly entered her in one strong, solid movement.

She gasped in shock, digging her nails into his back as he broke through her barrier. The pain was quick, sharp, but nothing unbearable by any means.

He froze dead. His body stiffened in horror. There was a wild panic in his eyes when he met her gaze with a concerned stare.

"You're a virgin?" The words were barely audible coming from his lips.

It wasn't that big of a deal. She didn't want it to be an issue. It didn't matter now. She had proved Longshot's accusations false. That was all that mattered.

Her silence aggravated him, he swallowed hard. "Why didn't you tell me?" he questioned as guilt quickly consumed his facial features.

"I didn't think you'd believe me," she whispered, sounding much quieter than she intended.

"I—" He was at a loss for words. "I—if I had known I wouldn't have gone so fast—" He raked his hand haphazardly through his hair.

She snatched his wrist within her grasp, stopping his panicked movement. She met him square in the eye. "I wanted this. I wanted _you_, nothing changes that."

His brows wrinkled in surrender. Sorrow and guilt filled his eyes. "There are far better men you could have given this to."

"Maybe," she answered, softly pulling him back to her. "But none of them are you."

"I don't deserve you," he moaned as she captured his lips with hers.

She nipped gently at his bottom lip. "Likewise."

It was the final word spoken before their bodies met again.

This time, he moved slower and his touch lighter, gentler than before. Rogue was about to protest that he need not bother, she was already hot for him and the change of pace only seemed to frustrate her body. It demanded him now, not later.

She quickly realized that he was slowing things down on purpose. Being a tease and igniting her desire even more so than before. She whimpered in delight and he gave her devilish grin. She smirked wickedly. Two could play at this game. She switched places, pushing him to the bed.

Rogue teased him with her body, running her naked breasts along his torso. At first she deliberately ignored his throbbing erection, it was only fair, since he refused to go anywhere between her legs regardless of how much she begged.

One of them was going to have to give, and Rogue boldly slid her body downwards, neatly cupping his length between her breasts.

He cried out in surprise, quickly biting his lip and tipping his head back. She slid her body up his shaft, rocking against him in a slow, rhythmic motion. When he could stand it no more, he toppled her over so that she was the one lying on her back against the bed.

He positioned himself above her, his lips meeting hers at the very same time he entered her for the second time. This time they melded together perfectly. She rocked her hips up to meet him in a song of movements they both instinctively knew the tune to.

It was delectable. It was superb.

There was no where on earth she'd rather be than here in his arms with him inside her.

For the first time she truly felt as though she belonged somewhere.

And it was with him.

When he came, she followed after, crying out in perfect pleasure and nuzzling against him afterwards.

This was bliss.

He rolled off of her and tucked himself neatly beside her, snuggling against her body. He lazily pulled the comforter blanket up over top of them.

"Anna," he sighed her name sleepily into her hair.

She blinked stupidly for a moment when she realized she had no idea what his real name was.

"It doesn't seem fair that I don't have a first name to call you," she replied softly.

She didn't think it was an odd request. After all, they _had_ just slept together. It wasn't unreasonable to inquire after his birth name. In fact, she should have asked for it before they had become intimate.

When he didn't answer her right away, it bothered her slightly. She tried to push the doubt that crept slowly into her mind away. He wasn't hesitating, she convinced herself. He was just tired.

"It's Etienne," he answered finally, rolling over and draping an arm around her. "But I've never cared for it, which is why I go by Gambit."

"Oh," she answered numbly, still trying to chase away the doubts that continued to arise.

She didn't know why she doubted him all of a sudden. Even though the name he'd given her matched that of the ones addressed to him in his emails, she couldn't help but think that he was lying to her.

_It shouldn't really matter_, she told herself sternly. It wasn't like she was being completely honest with him either.

Still...


	24. Chapter 24

He spent the night with her. Rogue hadn't been sure what to expect from Gambit after their lovemaking. Sure all sorts of sweet nothings and declarations had been made, but that was during the heat of the moment. Whether it held any value after the fact was something she had questioned silently to herself.

But he had stayed, content to sleep soundly beside her as if he'd meant everything he'd said...except his name. He'd made it very clear that he preferred Gambit over his other name, Etienne. In fact, she hadn't even had the chance to call him by his first name before he objected to its use.

She didn't know why it bothered her so much. She was more than certain that it was an alias. He'd given her no reason to suspect such a thing; it was just a gut feeling. It seemed whenever he hesitated in revealing something to her, she grew suspicious. Besides, it made perfect sense that he would have an alias—he was an escaped convict after all. Maybe that was part of his being hired by the MRD. New name, new life.

She wished she'd used an alias too. It had never bothered her to use her real name before. Hell, it usually helped her out in this line of work having her foster mother's maiden name. It made her credible in the criminal world, bearing the same name as the fabled Mystique Darkholme. Her foster mother was practically a legend in the vast, wonderful world of crime. But now that Rogue really didn't think she knew Gambit's real name, she wished he didn't know hers. It was petty, but she felt a touch more vulnerable that she had revealed a dash more of herself to him than he had to her.

Or, she was just being paranoid and Etienne was his real name and he simply just didn't like it. Plenty of people went by nicknames because they didn't like their first names, why should Gambit be any different? Because he was a criminal? Now she was stereotyping and profiling. That wasn't fair.

She had thought about pressing the subject, but Gambit had drifted off into a peaceful slumber. More disturbing to her was the thought that occurred to her _after _he was asleep.

She could slip into his mind and take a peek inside at a leisure pace while he slept and he'd be none the wiser. It'd be so easy to get all the answers she was looking for. It was exactly what she should be doing as a spy—yet she couldn't do it.

Gambit trusted her enough to sleep beside her, all his defenses, his guard—everything—was down while he slept. She couldn't violate that trust. She just couldn't, not after what they had shared. Deep down she knew there would come a time when she would have to betray him. Now was not that time.

Some double agent she'd turned out to be.

Logan would be so disappointed in her work ethic. All she seemed to do here was sympathize with the enemy. First off, she had jumped on board to help out Jean-Paul, even if it jeopardized her real job.

Now she'd just slept with the MRD's mutant ring leader. And she was more than certain that he had something to hide.

She bit her bottom lip in distress. In hindsight, sleeping with Gambit might not have been one of her best ideas. She glanced over at his sleeping form. He looked so content, so serene. One look erased any thoughts of regret. He had been worth it.

For the first time since she'd met him, he looked relaxed. She wondered how long it would last. There was no mistaking that the dynamic had been changed, along with the rules. It was highly unlikely that Gambit would behave any differently than he normally did. He was their leader. He had a job to do and technically, he had been told not to get involved with her.

And he had anyway.

The room suddenly felt colder.

What if in his disobedience, Gambit ended up as the next missing mutant? It was a possibility now that Rogue was pretty sure Gambit wasn't the one involved in that dirty, little mystery.

_You shouldn't have slept with him._

Ugh. That nagging, niggling voice of reason was back, chastising her again. At least this time it didn't sound like Logan. She really couldn't deal with that right now.

She glanced at her bedside clock. Almost noon. She should get up. She debated whether or not to wake Gambit.

It turned out she didn't have to. Her door suddenly burst open with a hurried, excited shout.

"Rogue!"

Rogue jumped at the sound of Jean-Paul's voice and his sudden intrusion. Usually he knocked first. So it was only natural that on the morning she was naked and with Gambit in her bed, Jean-Paul wouldn't knock. Murphy's law and all.

Jean-Paul's eyes bulged out of his head when he realized that she was not, in fact, alone.

"Get out of here, Jean-Paul," Gambit growled irritably from his pillow. He hadn't even bothered to look up at the man in the doorway or make any effort to get up out of bed.

Jean-Paul gave Rogue an apologetic look before his face quickly turned an embarrassing shade of red. "Normally I would, but Warren Junior is downstairs demanding to see Rogue now. And he's pretty insistent."

"Merde!" Gambit cursed, throwing back the covers and quickly sitting up. He grabbed his pants from the floor and began shoving them on. "How the hell did he get this address?"

Jean-Paul flailed his arms around in a panic. "I don't know! Longshot's been the one dealing with him, not me!"

"I'm gonna kill him," Gambit muttered to himself as he shrugged his shirt over his head. He nodded at Jean-Paul. "_You_, go back downstairs and stall him." He turned to Rogue. "_You_, get dressed now."

Rogue didn't have time to be taken aback at being addressed as '_you_'. Normally, she'd have been pissed that she was being ordered about so casually after she'd shared her body with him, but under the circumstances...

Shit! What was Warren doing here anyway? This whole thing reeked of Longshot. He'd been the one taking Warren's calls last night, and he was now the one with him in the lobby. She doubted he was trying very hard to restrain Warren from seeing her. She could only imagine what he'd been told by Longshot. It would only be a matter of time before Warren became aggressive and stormed up here. Luckily, Jean-Paul got to her room first. Although by the look on Jean-Paul's face, she was pretty sure he hadn't been on his way to give them a heads up. The look of shock neatly displayed on his face before he rushed back downstairs had said it all.

Jean-Paul had not expected to see Gambit in bed with her.

God, how was she going to explain that?

She sighed as she shoved fresh clothes on in frustration. What Jean-Paul thought was the least of her worries right now. What Warren thought was priority, at least it Gambit's priority as well. The man hadn't even bothered to care that Jean-Paul had burst in on them up until Jean-Paul told them why he was there and who was downstairs.

"What are you doing?" Gambit barked at her when she grabbed a brush from her dresser and began combing her hair in the small vanity mirror she kept there.

She glared at him. "Brushing my hair! Do you want it to look obvious that we were rolling around together? Look at these knots!" She shoved a fistful of hair in his face.

"Oh...uh, right," he stammered, clearly not on his game. "That's smart thinking." He dashed to the bathroom and began straightening himself up in the bathroom mirror. He'd been caught off guard and seemed slightly more frazzled than she was. It made her wonder just how much Gambit had at stake right now.

Lately it seemed that it was easy to unravel and unnerve him these days. Jean-Paul had commented on it when Gambit had left the elevator last night. Now, he was busy smoothing his own hair out, looking completely guilty.

"Stop furrowing your brows like that!" Rogue snipped sharply at him. "He's gonna suspect something's up with you looking so God damned guilty."

"Merde alors!" Gambit ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he straightened his shoulders and instantly looked composed.

Rogue drew in a short breath of awe. In the blink of an eye he looked like himself again. There was no trace of the frazzled, unkempt man she'd seen but moments ago. He'd been replaced with the cool, frighteningly commanding man they were all used to. It was as though the previous Gambit had never existed. Rogue had to appreciate the ability to put on new persona quicker than he could get dressed.

"You go down first," he instructed, stepping out of the bathroom. "I'll follow shortly after."

Rogue only nodded feebly. It was unnerving how quickly he had changed. This wasn't the man she'd spent the night with. She shouldn't have been all that surprised. This certainly wasn't the first time she'd seen Gambit flip through personalities, and she doubted it'd be the last. She wondered if this was the reason why hidden at the back of his eyes, he looked so damned tired all the time.

It was taxing to constantly be monitoring what sort of face you had on. Rogue had experience in that, but she had nowhere near the skill that Gambit had in doing it. If she hadn't seen him change on the drop of a dime countless times with her own two eyes, she would have thought that Gambit was multiply people. A set of quadruplets...or quintuplets.

He raised his eyebrows impatiently at her when she failed to move fast enough. "Go!"

This time, she was far less forgiving being ordered about in such a manner. Moments ago they had both been scrambling to pull themselves together. Not only that, if they were in a relationship now, Gambit had some things to learn about how he gave his commands to her.

"More flies with honey, sug," she replied vapidly as she turned to leave.

She let out a yelp of surprise when he snatched her arm and dragged her back to him. She really had to learn to stop turning her back on him.

"My apologies, ma cherie," he murmured, giving her a hint of the man she'd slept with. "This is not the best of moments to be idle."

Rogue gave him a small, forgiving smile before she gave him a quick kiss and headed down to meet Warren.

When she entered the lobby and saw Warren, she had to stifle a laugh. His chest was puffed up angrily as Jean-Paul trilled on in his usual calibre of conversation. Warren was in no mood. She spied Longshot leaning casually against the wall, conveniently far enough away to not be able to get involved quickly if something were to arise. Say something like Warren shoving past Jean-Paul and storming up the staircase. Rogue softly shook her head in disgust. Longshot wanted Warren to lose his temper, which meant Longshot knew perfectly well that she had spent the night with Gambit. That certainly didn't bode well.

"Warren!" Rogue exclaimed in a chipper greeting. "What a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting to see you today." She rushed eagerly to his side and blew a friendly kiss by his cheek. She was supposed to be dating him and it'd be suspicious if she acted differently.

"Anna," Warren answered somewhat surprised and somewhat relieved to see her. "I...uh, I'm sorry to come by unannounced, but I needed a date on short notice."

Rogue cocked her head playfully to the side. "Oh?"

Warren straightened his collar and tie. "It's a social luncheon. I had called last night—"

"Really?" she interrupted, feigning confusion. "I was at work. No one told me you had called, otherwise I would have phone back."

Warren shot Longshot a dirty scowl. It served him right, meddling in things like he had.

"How horrible that you had to come down here in person," Rogue continued innocently. "I hope it wasn't too out of your way."

Warren shrugged. "It wasn't that much trouble. Are you able to come with me?"

"Of course!" Rogue smoothed out her shirt self consciously. "I'd better go change into something a little nicer."

She quickly ran upstairs and changed into a demure sweater set and linen skirt. When she returned, Gambit was in the main lobby as well. To her surprise, he was making pleasant small talk with Warren. It wasn't until she got closer to the two men that she could sense the hidden hostility between them. There was a world of subtext going on in their words. Rogue knew she had to get Warren out of here quickly before one of them said something openly to the other and started a fight.

She turned to Gambit. "Well, I'm off to a luncheon with Warren, sir. As I'm sure you already know, he came all this way to ask me."

"How chivalrous of him," Gambit replied dryly.

"Well," Warren interjected hotly. "If you people would pass on messages—"

Gambit smirked. "_You people_." He said the words in a mocking tone.

Warren stiffened. His jaw clenched shut tightly. Rogue knew how touchy he was about his hidden mutant status. Gambit's response had all but implied that he didn't for a single second believe that he and Warren were any different.

"Uh." Rogue quickly grabbed Warren by the arm. "We don't want to be late." She needed to get the two men apart now.

"Don't stay out too late," Gambit commented with a pleasant wave.

"She'll stay out as late as she wants to," Warren replied coldly. "You may be her boss, but you don't own her."

Gambit gave an impressively bored shrug. "Neither do you."

Rogue yanked Warren out the door before he could respond. Once outside, Warren jerked free of her grasp.

"That guy is such an asshole!" he fumed.

"Not here," Rogue warned. They had barely gotten out the door and Warren was already losing his cool. He was going to get them in trouble if he didn't watch what he said.

"Right," he agreed sourly, remembering who he was and why he was here.

Once they were in Warren's car, he seemed to calm down. "Sorry about back there," he apologized. "It's just _that guy_. I hate the way he acts—like he has claim over you. I mean, did you see the way he looked at me? The way he spoke? Hell, he all but gnawed my arm off when you looped yours through mine."

Gambit had never been good at hiding his jealousy, even before they had gotten involved. Rogue mentally rolled her eyes. Maybe Gambit was the one who needed to be more careful. If he didn't keep his emotions in check, Warren would figure out that Rogue was actually involved with him.

And as soon as Warren figured it out, Logan would find out soon after.

Rogue shuddered. She did not need anyone finding out that she was with Gambit. The best way to avoid that was to get Warren to talk about something other than Gambit and his apparent crush on her.

"What were you thinking coming to the base like that?" she asked with concern. "And how did you even get the address? That place is supposed to be top secret."

"Money makes good connections," Warren answered, keeping his eyes on the road. "When I hadn't heard back from you, I got worried. Last time I hadn't heard from you, you were drugged and out cold for three solid days, remember?"

How could she forget?

"It's dangerous, Warren," Rogue answered. "The MRD doesn't let just anyone show up at our doorstep."

"So?" Warren replied recklessly. "Maybe I'm thinking of joining up."

Rogue stared at him in shock. "Are you stupid or something?"

Warren frowned. "I already spoke to Logan, I'm going to reveal my mutant status and join you in the mercenary ranks. They are recruiting since those twins were fired and—"

Rogue couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You can't!" she exclaimed in horror.

If Warren joined, it would be a disaster. It would ruin everything! How would she explain helping Jean-Paul? How would she explain her relationship with Gambit? And furthermore, how could Warren even think of revealing his mutant status for her sake instead of his own?

Warren glanced over at her suspiciously. "Is there something going on that you aren't telling me?"

"No!" Rogue shot quickly. "It's just..." she faltered. "How do you think that would look to the public?"

"I don't care about the public when your safety is—"

"Warren, listen to me," Rogue replied in a desperate tone. "This is the worst possible thing someone in your position could do."

"My position?"

"Yes!" Rogue exclaimed. "Think about it. You have been in the public eye for years. Everyone knows what a generous and caring man you are. You are one of New York's leading philanthropists. People adore you. When you decide to reveal that you are a mutant, you want people to remember that you are not a monster."

"I see," Warren answered, catching on. "If I throw my support in with the MRD, even as a guise to help you, I am tying my name with an organization that perpetuates the stereotype that mutants are a danger and need to be monitored. Being a mutant, that decision throws even more weight."

"You cannot sully your name and all the good you've done just for my sake. You can do so much more by reminding people that there are good examples of mutants. Continue to _be_ that example."

Warren heaved a great sigh. "You're right," he answered finally. "I can't involve myself with the MRD when my status could help so many, but I can't just leave you alone in this."

"Then we continue to 'date'. We continue to meet and exchange information."

Warren nodded. "That's also part of the reason I needed to see you so urgently." His cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "And part of the reason I thought the worst when I hadn't heard from you."

Rogue froze in anticipation. This could be it. This could be the final piece of the puzzle. When she had last spoken to Warren, he had planned on looking into Gambit, and more importantly, Longshot.

"You found out something on Longshot?" Rogue asked eagerly.

Warren nodded. "And Gambit."


	25. Chapter 25

Warren pulled the car into the driveway of a very grand estate. He followed the smooth, paved drive to a pristine, white garage door, which opened immediately as the car approached.

"Where are we?" Rogue asked in awe, sidetracked for a moment.

"My place," Warren answered. "I threw an impromptu luncheon as an excuse to show up unexpectedly at your door." He grinned at her shocked expression. "See? I really do make a good spy."

He'd certainly pulled one over on her. She shook her head slightly and smiled in defeat. "Very clever, James Bond. Now what did you learn about Longshot?"

"I don't know why you're so eager to know about Longshot. There's hardly anything to tell. He's essentially a celebrity in the mojoverse. He's a professional gladiator, for lack of a better description. He fights for entertainment there."

"If he's so famous in the mojoverse, why'd he come here?" Rogue asked suspiciously. It didn't make sense for Longshot to leave his adoring public to work for the MRD as an underappreciated mercenary. Heck, he wasn't even first in command; he'd lost that title to Gambit.

"Money and fame don't always go hand in hand," Warren answered. "Aside from his celebrity status, the man has zero in cash. Turns out he has a gambling problem and has some sharks on his tail. The MRD offered to take care of his debts, and his mojoverse employer lent him out to do just that. Longshot works for the MRD, the loan sharks get paid off."

Rogue frowned. "That's a pretty generous boss."

"Not when he's the one Longshot owes his gambling debts to."

"Is that all you found out about him?" Rogue asked, slightly disappointed. What had she expected? That Warren would just find someone who said that Longshot was killing off mutants who had worked for the MRD? It was never that easy. Still, she had foolishly hoped it was.

"Other than his background as basically a cage fighter who got tangled up in some debts, I haven't found anything else. The guy doesn't have a criminal record. Logan even paid a trip to the mojoverse only to learn that the guy is practically a god there."

Rogue sighed. A dead end. This was starting to get infuriating. She was so sure that Longshot was their man, but she didn't have proof or anything to follow up on. All she had were her gut instincts. Her senses were telling her that he was involved somehow, but how? Did it all come back to Gambit? He seemed to be the connecting piece, but nothing fit together yet.

She thought back to things Gambit had said in passing about Longshot. She thought back to the different interactions she had seen between the two men. Something wasn't right. It took her a moment, but it came to her. Longshot and Gambit were always arguing. She had witnessed it at the benefit while they were public. She had witnessed it when she had barged in on them in the meeting room. Normally arguing wouldn't have been so weird, except she'd also seen Longshot cower in fear of Gambit. And with good reason. Gambit had beaten the living snot out of him after the night of the benefit. Yet, even after such fear, he still continued to challenge Gambit at every turn. Why?

And furthermore, why wasn't Gambit enforcing his position all the time? Didn't it stand to reason that if Longshot was defying orders and arguing at every turn, Gambit would be retaliating with violence? He certainly had in the past.

Unless that had been purely for show.

Allowing Longshot to argue with him meant that Gambit saw him as an equal. Gambit certainly allowed her to argue with him, and she knew how he thought about her.

Rogue felt ill. The possibility that the two were cohorts hadn't even occurred to her until now. If her suspicions were correct, they had put on a pretty good show. Had she not gotten involved with Gambit, she never even would have made the connection with the arguments. Gambit didn't argue with anyone of lower value. He didn't tolerate insubordination—

"Have you thought of something?" Warren asked.

"Huh?" Rogue blinked, looking up and losing her train of thought. She had been going somewhere with it, but where?

"You got all silent on me, like you were lost in thought," Warren pressed encouragingly.

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. She wasn't about to start throwing out speculations. For all she knew, Longshot and Gambit could be equal enough in the MRD ranks that Longshot could argue fairly freely, only crossing lines some of the time for Gambit to lash out. She'd hate to start another mad goose chase before she had more facts.

"Well," Warren began. "What I got on Longshot isn't nearly as interesting as what I got on Gambit."

Her stomach tightened and Rogue blanched. She wasn't sure she was going to like this. Warren seemed a little too eager to spill what he'd learnt about Gambit. He despised the man, which meant the information he'd gotten on Gambit wasn't particularly pleasant.

Rogue swallowed the hard lump that had risen in her throat. "What did you find?"

"Well, for starters, your _boyfriend_ is moonlighting for the New York branch of the Thieves' Guild."

Rogue cringed, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the 'boyfriend' part or the 'Thieves' part.

"Please stop calling him that," she said in exasperation.

"Sorry," Warren apologized absently. "It's just he acts like—never mind." Warren shook his head, getting back on track. "As I was saying, he is working for the MRD and for the Thieves' Guild, only the MRD doesn't know it."

This was bad. Everyone knew that the Thieves' Guild was one of the biggest crime organizations in the country. Not even the Mafias could hold sway to the Guilds. There were two, the Guild of Assassins and the Guild of Thieves, though the Thieves were by far the more successful. The Guilds had originated in New Orleans. With Gambit's Cajun background and thieving background, Rogue felt incredibly stupid for not putting two and two together.

It all made perfect, lovely sense that Gambit would belong to the Guild. Question was: why wasn't it the New Orleans branch he was involved with?

"Why New York?" she mused out loud.

Warren smiled wistfully. "You think just like Logan. He said the exact same thing. Why is a Cajun working for the New York branch? It hadn't crossed my mind until Logan had said it, but when he did, I was able to find out so much more."

Rogue gave him an inquisitive look, prompting him to go on.

"Originally it was impossible to find out anything on Gambit after the past five years and even that was slim pickings. Nothing made a lot of sense. It was like Etienne Gambit had never existed until recently."

"An alias," Rogue breathed. She knew it!

"Exactly."

Rogue furrowed her brow. "How did you learn his full name? He only told me just recently."

"My father's contact list. Kitty was able to hack into his computer. My father has a list of all the MRD employees." Warren scowled bitterly. "Finally being his son was good for something."

Rogue patted his arm. It was very difficult for Warren to maintain a relationship with his father since the two had polar opposite views on mutants. Warren was one of the few who constantly tried though. Many mutants had given up on families that just didn't accept them. In the end, it was easier to sever the ties. Rogue commended Warren for constantly trying, even though it seemed useless.

"Anyway," Warren continued. "At first glance, Gambit is nothing more than a common thug. Nothing special. That is until we discovered who he really was—but I'm getting ahead of myself. See, records of him first turned up when he was apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D.—"

Rogue waved her hand impatiently. "I know, I know. He was in the Marauder gang, got ratted out by a fellow member and went to jail, where he eventually broke out."

Warren raised his eyebrows. "Impressive, but you got some of your facts wrong."

"Such as?"

"Gambit was never ratted out. He _was_ the rat."

Rogue felt dizzy. That couldn't be right. She had spoken with Gambit himself about the Marauders. He had told her he was ratted out. He had even speculated that Cortez had been the rat.

"That can't be right," she whispered.

"It is," Warren replied. "It didn't make sense until I found out who he was giving information to."

"The Thieves," Rogue answered, her mind furiously fitting the pieces together. "He infiltrated the Marauders as a Thief."

Warren nodded.

"That still doesn't explain how he ended up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison."

"The Thieves tipped off S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. acted, arresting the entire gang before Gambit was able to get out."

Rogue scoffed. "That's ridiculous! The Thieves' Guild would never willingly aid S.H.I.E.L.D. "

"They would if a certain someone was trying to punish his son."

Rogue blew an exhausted breath. "The whole arrest of the Marauders was because of a little, old family feud?"

Warren shook his head softly. "Not little by any means. You've heard the name Jean-Luc LeBeau, right?"

Rogue glowered. "I'm not stupid, Warren. I know the name of the Thieves' Guild's patriarch. I wouldn't be much of a vigilante if I wasn't acquainted with the various names of crime lords."

"And now you're actually acquainted with one in person," Warren replied. "It turns out that our dear Etienne Gambit is none other than Jean-Luc's estranged son, Remy LeBeau."

Rogue involuntarily gasped out loud. "You're joking."

"Not by any means. Like I said, at first glance, Gambit is nothing more than a common thug. A grunt working for the New York Thieves to steal information from a rival New York gang, the Marauders. He did pretty good at downplaying his status too. Nothing to even think about, until you ask what a Cajun is doing in the New York branch."

"Wait a second," Rogue interrupted. "How did you learn he was a Thief in the first place? Up until now I only knew he'd been a Marauder."

Warren shrugged. "That was all Logan. He and Gambit have crossed paths numerous times over the past year and Gambit is always stealing something. Logan said there was no way anyone outside the Thieves' Guild was that skilled, so we looked into it. Turns out Gambit was originally contracted out to the MRD by the Thieves. I believe his fist contract was to steal Forge's inhibitor collar." Warren gave a wry smile. "After that, he began working exclusively for the MRD...or so the MRD thought, but he never quit his ties with the Thieves like he led the MRD to believe."

"All right," Rogue agreed. "I buy that, but why would he go back to the Thieves after they were responsible for his imprisonment?"

"That's where we can only begin to speculate," Warren admitted. "We know for sure that Gambit left New Orleans at odds with his father. We don't know the specifics for the falling out. We know that Gambit changed his name when he came to New York. We know he started working for the New York Thieves under that name. Whether it was under his father's command or something he did on his own, we don't know. We know he infiltrated the Marauders and ferried information back to the Thieves. We know the Thieves betrayed Gambit and he went to prison—"

"Yes," Rogue replied impatiently. "The theories please, Warren."

"We think he's back with the Thieves in an attempt to overthrow his father."

Rogue wrinkled her nose in doubt and confusion. That was the stupidest theory she'd ever heard. "What on earth made you come to that conclusion?"

Warren shrugged. "I know what it's like not to get along with a parent. If my father ever imprisoned me, I know damn well that I'd be out for revenge."

"Maybe it isn't that complex," Rogue offered gently. "There is that old saying, 'thick as thieves', maybe Gambit just had nowhere else to go. You of all people know that blood is thicker than water. You've been trying for years to get along with your father. You have never just walked away when things between you got bad."

Warren wrinkled his nose judgmentally. "I guess that's one theory. I just can't picture that guy being anything like me."

Rogue decided not to point out that Warren's theories were based on what Warren would do in the same situation. "So Gambit is still working for the Thieves, and obviously spying on the MRD, but to what purpose?"

Warren glanced down with a sigh. "That, we don't know, but at least you've got a little more to work with."

Rogue felt a headache coming on. Sure, she appreciated the information, but it seemed that the more she learned, the more despair she felt. Everything always came back to Gambit. At least this time, Rogue had something more solid to mount her suspicions on. The Thieves could easily be responsible for the missing mutants.

"You ready for lunch?" Warren asked.

"Yeah," Rogue agreed quietly.

Warren led her through the house to where the luncheon was being held. Rogue wasn't even sure what such a large room was called in a mansion. A ballroom? A parlour? None of the large rooms at Xavier's were used for their intended purpose. She hadn't bothered to ask Warren for fear of looking inept. It was bad enough that she felt uncomfortable in these sorts of situations with these kinds of people so there was no need to draw any more attention to herself. She was here as Warren's date and that would garner her plenty of interest.

She quickly realized that even though she was with Warren, no one really bothered her or cared to speak with her. People were only interested in Warren. He gave her an apologetic smile after he was roped into a conversation about commerce. She could tell that Warren hadn't had any desire to leave her alone, but he'd been left with very little choice.

Rogue wandered around the room by herself, wondering how long she had to stay here. It was stuffy in the room, and all the pomp and circumstance was quickly getting to her. Ugh, she'd never be able to date Warren even if she was remotely interested in the man; she'd never be able to tolerate these functions.

It wasn't until a man across the room was waving at her that things became very interesting. She squinted her eyes. She was sure she didn't know anyone in Warren's circle of friends, but the man seemed to know her. She inched closer. God, he looked familiar...

Her eyes widened in sheer and absolute shock as she recognized the man. She raced across the room as quickly as possible, trying not to gape or draw attention.

"What are you doing here?" Rogue hissed at Jean-Paul in a low voice.

Jean-Paul gave a weak smile. "This was the only way I could talk to you in private." He glanced around. "Well, semi-private. At least with no other mercs."

Rogue couldn't imagine what was so important that Jean-Paul had to talk to her right now. "How did you even get in here?" Rogue marvelled at him in wonder. He was certainly dressed like one of New York's wealthiest. Jean-Paul blended in perfectly in his neatly pressed khakis and pale yellow polo sweater. He'd even combed his hair to the side, giving him that preppy boy look.

"Pretty easily when you've got speed on your side. I just glided in past the doorman while the door was open. Finding you was the tough part, but thanks to Google—"

Rogue waved her hand impatiently. "All right, all right, I get it. Now what's with the fire under your ass?"

Jean-Paul glanced around quickly, lowering his voice. "I know where Jeanne-Marie's body is, but we have to go now."

Rogue understood why Jean-Paul was eager to get his sister's body back. It had only been on his mind for the past three years, but crashing a luncheon seemed a tad bit extreme. Even for Jean-Paul. There was something else at play here.

Rogue narrowed her eyes warily. "Why right now? What's the catch?"

"The catch is: she's in one of Trask's private labs. Since he's been let go, the MRD board of trustees is reviewing his work, debating whether or not to continue with it. For the past week all of Trask's labs have been opened for review, practically anyone in MRD can gain access without suspicion."

"But?"

Jean-Paul sighed. "But I only just found out and today is the last day before the board makes a decision. Going anytime after today is going to arouse suspicion unless we plan a miraculous B&E." His eyes turned dark and pleading. "Please, Rogue, you said you'd help and if we don't go now, it'll be impossible to get into the lab once the board has made a decision."

As much as Rogue didn't appreciate the timing, she couldn't let Jean-Paul go alone. Even if it wasn't dangerous or as dangerous as it could be, Jean-Paul would still need her support. He was going to finally see his sister's body, or at least find out what happened to it. Rogue shuddered. Jeanne-Marie's remains being in a lab did not bode well at all for her body still being intact. No, there was no way Rogue would let Jean-Paul face this alone. She just had to come up with a tactful way to leave Warren's luncheon.

"Okay," she agreed. "You head outside and meet me at the edge of the yard. I need to let Warren know I'm leaving."

Jean-Paul restrained himself from hugging her. Now was not the time or the place. All they needed was some rich gossip spying Rogue in the arms of another man and Warren would be humiliated.

"Thank you," he whispered gratefully as Rogue gave him a quick nod and went to find Warren.

Warren was not hard to find, but getting to Warren was. He was surrounded by people all vying for his attention. After trying for several minutes to grab his attention and failing, Rogue decided that she would just have to make her hasty exist anyway and call Warren later to apologize.

She met Jean-Paul outside. He looked jumpier than usual.

"You okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "It's just...I dunno, I can't believe after all these years, it's finally going to come to an end."

Rogue understood what he meant. Jeanne-Marie and what had happened to her had been haunting Jean-Paul for some time. He was now going to come face to face with the ghosts of his past mistakes. Not only that, they were going to steal a body from a government building. Anyone should be nervous about that. Strangely enough, Rogue wasn't.

It wasn't like she was in the habit of body snatching, she just wasn't all that nervous about it. The truth was, Rogue didn't believe that there was going to be much of a body left to take. Trask had often called on the von Strucker twins for assistance in his labs and Rogue already knew what the twins had been like. She doubted that she was going to like where she and Jean-Paul were heading. She doubted even more that she would like what they would find.

As the two reached Jean-Paul's car, it occurred to Rogue that if there was a body to remove, how exactly were the two of them going to remove it?

"Jean-Paul," she hesitated, thinking of the right way to ask. "How are we going to take your sister from the building without being noticed?"

"A gurney. Each lab should be equipped with at least one."

Rogue looked nervously at Jean-Paul's sports car. "And you're going to put her in here?" she asked dubiously. It was a little ostentatious to be driving a tiny, red sports car with a body in plain sight in the back seat. She couldn't imagine Jean-Paul trying to stuff his sister's remains into the compact trunk space. She'd be horrified if he'd even suggest it. She shook her head. Jean-Paul would never, not the way he loved his sister.

"We're switching it for a rental van," he supplied as he opened up the trunk and pulled out two white lab coats. He handed one to her. "Here, put this on."

Rogue took the coat and slipped it on. She was thankful that she'd just left the luncheon. At first she didn't think that her attire would be of any use. Hell, a sweater set and skirt was downright ridiculous when she imagined herself trying to haul a body from the premises, but getting _into_ the lab dressed respectably was key. Both she and Jean-Paul looked the part of scientists or board members. No one would pay them any mind at all.

But what would they do once they had the body?

"What do you plan on doing after...this?" Rogue broached once they were both in the car and speeding off down the street. "You can't possibly be coming back to the base, can you?"

Jean-Paul shook his head softly. "Once they know her body is gone, they'll know it was me. I'm...I'm going to head for the Canadian border and try and get back home to bury her. At least before..." his voice trailed off as he glanced down at the silver bracelet on his wrist.

_Before Gambit comes after him_, Rogue finished silently.

If they pulled this off, it was going to be good-bye. Jean-Paul didn't stand in a chance in hell dodging Gambit. The best Rogue could hope for was that Jean-Paul would at least get a chance to bury his sister properly first before they came to haul him away.

"I'll stall him as much as I can," Rogue offered gently. That was if she didn't get implicated in helping Jean-Paul first.

Jean-Paul gave a bittersweet smile, knowing that she'd read his thoughts exactly. "Should be an easy thing for you to do, now that he's had a taste." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I thought you said you were going wait until you knew for sure what he was up to before you boinked him?"

Rogue tipped her head back against the seat. "I thought so too."

"I nearly had a heart attack when I opened your door this morning." He laughed. "Good thing I didn't start out with, 'I know where her body is'."

Rogue couldn't help but laugh. That was Jean-Paul, the man could make light of every situation. She was going to miss him when he left.

"That was why you burst in so urgently, not Warren?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "Thank God, Warren was there, but he wasn't exactly on my mind when I woke you up. It wasn't until I needed an excuse that it occurred to me I could use Warren."

"Quick thinking."

Jean-Paul shrugged. "I've always been quick on my feet."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Hardy, har har," she droned, getting his play on words. God, she was really going to miss these conversations. As a silence fell between them, she knew Jean-Paul was thinking the same thing.

"Rogue..." Jean-Paul began after several minutes of silence. "If things go bad, and I...well, I disappear, I don't want you to come looking for me."

"Jean-Paul—"

"I mean it," he replied sternly. "I want you to stay out of it. It's too much trouble and it's too dangerous. I'd never want to be the reason why something awful happened to you."

"You know I can't do that," Rogue answered flatly. "I _won't _do that."

Jean-Paul heaved a weary sigh. "I knew you'd say that."

"Maybe I can convince Gambit to leave you be," Rogue suggested feebly.

Jean-Paul laughed again, breaking the somber tone of the conversation. "If anyone can, it'd be you. Probably be easy too, just gotta drop your panties."

Rogue gasped in mock disgust. "You're terrible!"

His eyes sparkled mischievously. "Me? I'm not the one who boinked our boss!"

"Will you ever tire of that word?"

Jean-Paul shook his head. "Only if you tire of Gambit."


	26. Chapter 26

Rogue stood outside Trask's private laboratory with Jean-Paul. Even in the daylight the building seemed shrouded in darkness and gave off an ominous, jarring vibe. As the two walked up to the front doors, Jean-Paul suddenly stopped in horror.

"Are you okay?" Rogue asked gently.

Northstar had a faraway look on his face. "Yeah, it's just...there's something about this place. Gives me the creeps."

Rogue agreed. She reached out for Jean-Paul's hand and he took hers instantly. "Come on, whatever is inside, we'll face it together." She smiled encouragingly.

Jean-Paul nodded, starting to match Rogue's quick steps to the entrance.

It wasn't until they were inside the building that Jean-Paul froze up again. He inhaled sharply and had Rogue not been holding his hand, she was sure he would have bolted for the door. Rogue gave him a careful look. Maybe bringing Jean-Paul here hadn't been a good idea. She debated trying to convince him to wait in the van while she looked around.

"Jean-Paul?"

He stared up at the vast, open, beamed ceiling. "It's the arena," he whispered in shock. He pointed up to the beams in the far corner. "I hid right up there. I-I didn't realize they had turned it into a lab."

Rogue tore her eyes from the ceiling and looked around. The area looked much too small to have been an arena for testing the Sentinel Prowlers. When the MRD had converted it into one of Trask's labs, it had been sectioned off into rooms.

The main area they stood in now, looked like a typical research lab. It almost reminded her of Forge's lab back at the mansion, but much tidier. Nothing about the lab appeared dark or sinister, yet that was the feeling Rogue still got while standing in the room. It appeared innocent enough, but Rogue knew deep down that terrible things had happened here. The evidence was washed away and hidden from the naked eye, but its essence still permeated the room.

The room stank of death masked by chemicals. Rogue continued her scan of the area, noting a door at the back, no doubt leading to another room. On the far right she found another door, it looked like another exit. When she turned back to check on Northstar, he had already moved over to the door at the back.

Rogue followed and stood beside him. Jean-Paul was studying the door. At closer inspection Rogue could see a thin metal plate marking the door. "Specimens" she read aloud.

"She has to be in here," Jean-Paul said quietly. His hands were shaking. Again Rogue wondered whether or not to send Jean-Paul back to the van.

"Looks like the door needs a password," Rogue noted, drawing Jean-Paul's attention to the small keypad beside the door.

"And a registration I.D.," Jean-Paul added. He moved from the door and looked around the room. "There should be a computer in here somewhere..." His eyes lit up when he located the computer. He moved quickly for it. "This should only take a few minutes. I'm familiar with this set up."

Rogue waited by the door as Jean-Paul typed furiously on the keyboard.

"Looks like it'll be easiest to get in under Andreas's I.D.," Jean-Paul informed her. "If I remember correctly, his password was always his sister's name."

Rogue scrunched up her noise in disdain. "That's extra creepy."

Northstar looked up from the computer. "He's always had an unhealthy obsession with his sister. I have no doubt that 'Andrea' is the password. His I.D. code is seven, seven, five."

Rogue gave a shrug and typed in the I.D. code, registering Andreas as a user. Jean-Paul knew the twins better than she had, so she trusted his information. She looked at the numerical key pad. "Hell," she muttered to herself. "What's the alphabetical listing on a number pad for a phone? Mine's a touch screen."

"Uh..." Jean-Paul he glanced around the room, finding a cordless phone. He quickly grabbed it and brought it to her. "We can't screw this up," he warned. "We get only get one retry if you type it in wrong."

Rogue bit her lip. "And if it's wrong twice?"

"We high tail it out of here because it's going to sound the alarms."

"Great," Rogue sighed. "No pressure."

Northstar gave her a faint smile.

Rogue carefully punched in the corresponding numbers to match the alphabet and spell out Andrea's name. When she finished, a robotic voice spoke from a small speaker above the door.

"Invalid password. Try again."

"Shit," both Rogue and Jean-Paul said in unison.

Jean-Paul wrung his hands together in stress. "I don't understand. He was obsessed with Andrea. She was always his password."

Rogue didn't know what to do. She hadn't known Andreas all that well to begin with. The only time she had ever interacted with him was when he was being all creepy and stalker-like around her. She'd only ever really had one conversation with the guy, and that was basically to tell him and his unwanted advances off.

Rogue froze. Her eyes lit up as an idea hit her. It was worth a shot, seeing as she or Jean-Paul hadn't any better ideas.

Andreas von Strucker had made it clear he was interested in her. Sure, it was in the most unnerving way possible, but he had still been interested. He'd all but slithered out of a dark corner after he'd eavesdropped on an argument she'd had with Gambit. She couldn't remember the exact words Andreas had used, but it was enough to warrant her to take off her gloves and become menacing herself.

Andreas had backed off, but not before Rogue knew what sort of intentions he had towards her.

"Bet this would have been our first date," she murmured. Remembering that Andreas like to 'break' women.

"Huh?" Jean-Paul asked.

"If this doesn't work, Jean-Paul, I want you to get the hell outta here," she instructed as she began punching in her name as the password.

"What are you doing?" Jean-Paul asked, extremely agitated.

"Go to the exit and be ready to run."

"Rogue—"

"Seriously, if this doesn't work, I want you gone. You're fast enough to get away."

"What about you? I can't just leave you!"

"Yes, you can," Rogue answered firmly. "If the worst should happen, I want you to phone Warren Junior and tell him everything."

"Not Gambit?" Jean-Paul questioned rather thankfully.

Rogue shook her head. "Warren Junior. He's got far more pull and resources not being tied to the MRD. He'll make sure nothing happens to me."

Jean-Paul nodded, hesitating to move from beside her.

"Go!"

He made a mad dash for the exit.

Rogue finished spelling out her name on the numerical key pad. With the final stroke of a key, she pulled her hand away and waited. The seconds ticked by like hours until the door clicked open.

"Jean-Paul!" she cried. "It worked!"

Jean-Paul was back beside her within seconds. "I can't believe it! What did you type in?"

Rogue felt a little sheepish. "My name."

"Brilliant!" Jean-Paul replied. "He did have a thing for you. Drove Andrea nuts! I bet she hated that he changed his password from her to you."

She gave Jean-Paul a reassuring look. "Let's go get your sister."

The two entered the room together.

"Oh God!" Rogue gasped covering her mouth in horror. Jean-Paul stiffened beside her, coming to a dead halt once they passed the threshold and eyed their new surroundings.

Rogue couldn't breathe. The room looked like something out of a horror film or Frankenstein's castle. The room was filled with bodies. Bodies in jars, bodies on slabs, bodies in large fluid filled, capsule-like tanks lining the vast length of the walls.

She heard Jean-Paul swallow hard beside her. "She's got to be in here somewhere," he said softly, trying to keep his voice steady. He'd begun shaking again.

Rogue stared ahead at the room. Finding Jeanne-Marie's body was going to take a while. If not for the sheer size of the room, then for the way it was organized. Rogue quickly noted that the tanks lined with bodies along the walls were not in alphabetical order. Each body, Rogue refused to use the word 'specimen', were labelled clearly with some sort of numbering system and then the deceased's name. The cataloguing system made no sense to her, but at least the names were printed clearly.

"We split up," Jean-Paul decided, his voice suddenly thick and raspy. "You take that side, I'll take this side. We're looking for 'Jeanne-Marie Beaubier'."

Rogue set to work. They didn't have time to waste here, and their task had become quite daunting. Rogue was sickened by what she found within the room. She knew a little about field surgery and medicine from the time she spent with Beast, not enough to actually perform and amputation or anything, but enough to know that what she was witnessing in this room had been barbaric and sadistic.

She slipped her smartphone from her purse and flicked on the video camera mode. She began documenting her travels through the lab. This was exactly the type of evidence she needed to bring back to the X-men. She should have been happy to finally have caught a break and found plausible evidence of the monstrosities the MRD was performing behind closed doors. Instead, she felt horribly, horribly sad and sickened.

After seeing at least a dozen of faces frozen in contorted pain, Rogue found it was best to just avert her eyes and focus on the name plates. Her camera never wavered from the anguish showcased in death though. She wished that she was a stronger person and that she could look the dead in the eye and apologize for what had happened to them. There was no mistaking that absolutely unthinkable atrocities had occurred to them while they were still alive. The facial expressions proved it.

It was a very somber walk down the room reading the name plates on each tank, avoiding the pain, shuddering at the glimpses of half-done dissections and appalling surgeries. Rogue would never forget what she saw here. The images were enough to haunt her for a lifetime and then some. She prayed that she would find Jeanne-Marie's name soon, because she wasn't sure how much more her mind could take. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and run, never looking back.

She wondered if Jean-Paul recognized any of these mutants as ones that had gone missing. Judging by the stock of bodies, she wouldn't be all that surprised if the missing turned up here, instead of in connection with the Thieves. She hesitated to ask. Jean-Paul was here with the mind set of finding his sister. He would be focused on that singular goal.

Ultimately, she felt that it would be insensitive to ask Jean-Paul if he recognized any of the dead. She was supposed to be focused on the task of finding Jeanne-Marie as well. It would probably upset Jean-Paul if she admitted her mind was on other things as well. Perhaps she'd bring it up later.

She stopped short with a sharp inhale when the next plate she approached read, 'Beaubier, Jeanne-Marie'. Without a second thought, Rogue tore her eyes from the name plate and stared up at the body of a slender young woman. Her long, black hair floated eerily around her face. Her face almost resembled Jean-Paul's, but only if Rogue squinted and tried real hard to see the resemblance.

Thankfully, the body of Jeanne-Marie wasn't spliced open in the manner of the some of the other bodies Rogue had come across. Jeanne-Marie was surprisingly intact, and for that Rogue was very thankful. She wasn't sure how Jean-Paul would handle seeing his sister's remains hacked to pieces so carelessly. Her facial expression was also one of quiet peace, another relief for Rogue. She didn't think she could bear it if Jeanne-Marie looked otherwise. Jeanne-Marie had left this world without the pain of torture marked on her face forever.

Rogue's voice caught in her throat as she tried to call for Jean-Paul. It took her a couple of tries before she could find the volume to call her friend over.

"Jean-Paul," she called out, her voice wavering. "I've found her."

Jean-Paul took mere seconds to reach her. Rogue stepped back, allowing him a moment to reunite with the image of his sister. Jean-Paul's face frowned as he stepped up to the tank and gently ran his fingers over the name plate and onto the glass. His fingers finally rested on the glass above his sister's face. The look of anguish on Jean-Paul's face was unmistakable.

Rogue's heart broke as she watched the touching reunion. Jean-Paul had finally found his sister. All they had to do now was figure out how to get her out of the tank capsule she floated in.

Jean-Paul swallowed back tears as he stared up at his sister's remains. "Rogue?" he called, still staring at the lifeless face with sorrow.

She stepped forward and carefully placed her hand on Jean-Paul's shoulder. "We'll get her out," she said quietly.

Jean-Paul shook his head. "We can't," he choked, fighting back the tears.

"We can," Rogue said softly. "We'll find a way."

Jean-Paul shook his head again, this time more furiously. "We can't. This is not my sister."

Rogue stiffened at his declaration. He must be in shock. He was thinking of his sister while she'd been alive. The body in the tank had been preserved here for three years. It was only natural that she looked different. Rogue placed her arm around Jean-Paul's shoulder and steered him away from the body. He needed a moment to calm down. "Jean-Paul—"

He tore himself from her grasp and threw an angry pointed finger at Jeanne-Marie's body. "This is not Jeanne-Marie! This is not my sister's body!" He turned helplessly to Rogue. "She doesn't look anything like this!"

"Jean-Paul—"

"I know what my sister looks like!" he shouted in a mixture of anguish and frustration. "What is this woman doing here under my sister's name? Where is Jeanne-Marie?"

Rogue was at a loss as to what to do or what to say. "I don't know."

"The computer," Jean-Paul declared manically. "The computer will have her records. Her driver's license photo—something. I'll prove to you that this isn't her!"

Before Rogue could respond, Jean-Paul had taken off towards the door leading to the other half of the lab. Rogue quickly followed after, almost running to catch up. She reached the doorway in time to see Jean-Paul slam his fist down in anger.

"What the hell is going on here!" he cried in rage.

Rogue hurried to the computer screen and peered down at the photo Jean-Paul had called up on the computer. It was an image of Jeanne-Marie's driver's license. Even in death, Rogue could see that the girl in the tank matched that of the one in the photo. There was no mistaking it.

Tears were falling freely down Jean-Paul's face. "Where is my sister?" he whispered in desperation. "This isn't her, Rogue! You have to believe me!"

Rogue did the only thing she could do. She nodded in agreement. Jean-Paul was taking this much harder than she had expected. Shock and grief had consumed him—at least that was what the rational part of her mind kept telling her. The other part of her mind wholeheartedly agreed with Jean-Paul. He knew better than anyone what his twin looked like. She could see Jean-Paul mistaking the body in the tank as not being his sister, but the photo in the driver's license? No. There was no way Jean-Paul would claim that it was not his sister if it wasn't.

"I believe you, Jean-Paul," she said firmly. "If you say this is not your sister, then I believe you."

"What are we going to do?" he asked, his voice cracking with despair.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. Rogue didn't know what to do about Jean-Paul's plight. She knew what to do with everything else she'd gathered from the lab. But if she gave the video file she'd recorded to Logan, her job here would be done and he'd pull her out of the MRD. She'd have no choice but to follow her orders and return to the X-men, leaving Jean-Paul behind with the mystery of his sister's body. She couldn't do that. She could not leave him like this.

"We can finish looking at the bodies," Rogue suggested, cringing inwardly at the idea. She did not want to return to the previous room.

"Okay," Jean-Paul answered quietly in defeat. "But I know she's not in there. Someone's switched her body and her records. I just don't know why."

Rogue felt the same way Jean-Paul did, but she could not leave this place without thoroughly checking everywhere for any sort of evidence they might find pertaining to Jeanne-Marie.

"Come on," she encouraged. "We'll look together."

They had barely made it back into the back room when they heard voices in the room they had just left. Rogue met Jean-Paul's eyes in fear. They were no longer alone. Jean-Paul dashed forward quickly, shutting the door as quietly as he could, locking them in the back of the lab.

"We need to find a place to hide," Rogue whispered. "If they come in here—" Rogue suddenly realized that she was talking to herself.

Jean-Paul was gone.

"Jean-Paul!" she cried in a hoarse whisper. "Where are you?"

He didn't answer.

Dread filled her, washing over her like a brash, cold tidal wave. She didn't want to believe it, but with Jean-Paul's sudden disappearance, she had little choice.

Her best friend, whom she had come to trust completely, had abandoned her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> _Just a head's up that this is most likely the last update until sometime after Christmas. We're travelling up North to spend the holidays with family. Have a Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!_


	27. Chapter 27

Panic raced through Rogue's veins when she realized that Jean-Paul had abandoned her. He'd left her, quickly hiding from the MRD agents that had arrived. Rogue frantically searched the lab for somewhere to hide. She couldn't believe that after all they had been though together that Jean-Paul would just up and leave her.

After a hasty search, Rogue realized her impending doom. There was nowhere for her to hide. She couldn't even find a table to crouch under. All had been solid slabs, bolted to the ground.

"Oh God," she sobbed in desperation. There was nothing she could do, but await the door opening and face the agents. She began to slip her gloves off in anticipation for the inevitable.

"Rogue!" Jean-Paul hissed, his voice faintly carrying from the back of the room. "Rogue!"

Rogue followed the hushed sound of Jean-Paul's voice to the back of the room. As she approached the back wall, she heard a sigh of relief come from the rafters.

"There you are!" Jean-Paul whispered. "Sorry for leaving, I needed to gain quick speed to get up here." Jean-Paul swung down from the rafters, lacing his legs around the beam he'd been sitting on. "Grab my hand so I can pull you up."

Rogue reached up towards Jean-Paul's outstretched hands. She stretched in vain, but couldn't reach. "You're too high up."

"Try climbing on that table," Jean-Paul replied as he pulled himself up and scurried towards the table. "You should have enough height then."

Rogue climbed up onto the table and reached again for Jean-Paul's hands. He tried to pull her up.

"God, you're heavy," he groaned, straining his body to lift her while hanging upside down.

It was no use. Maybe upright Jean-Paul would be able to lift her, but not hanging from a rafter.

"It's not working," Rogue declared and let go of Jean-Paul. "We're going to have to try something else."

"Unless you can fly, there isn't any other way."

Rogue pulled off one of her gloves. "I can fly if you give me your hand." She reached back up to Jean-Paul.

"This isn't any time for joking around!" Jean-Paul snapped as he grabbed her bare hand and tried pulling again.

"I know," Rogue snipped back. "Ignore that slight woozy feeling. It'll fade in a few minutes."

"What woozy feel—oh." Jean-Paul wavered slightly, his complexion suddenly pale. "I feel sick."

"Don't fall!" Rogue said quickly as she let go of Jean-Paul's hand. She'd absorbed just enough of Jean-Paul's mutation to actively get her up into the rafters with very little trouble. As she hopped off the table and took off down the walkway, she understood why Jean-Paul hadn't been able to give her any warning when he had left her. She'd never moved so fast in her life. It was exhilarating as she zipped around, finally letting her feet glide up off the ground. Using the momentum from the speed, she glided upwards, drifting towards the rafters.

She met Jean-Paul who stared at her in awe.

"Um...how did you just do what I did?" he asked, still a little pale.

Rogue opened her mouth to answer when the door to the lab opened. Both Rogue and Jean-Paul sucked in nervous breaths. They huddled together, hiding in the rafters. It wasn't very likely that anyone would look up and see them unless they gave the MRD agents a reason to.

Rogue slipped her phone from her pocket, setting the video camera up for record again. Jean-Paul gave her a puzzled look. Rogue gave a small shrug. If the MRD agents said anything incriminating, it would help Rogue out tremendously. It was worth Jean-Paul's suspicion if she could get some sort of statement about the lab from an actual MRD agent.

Two men entered the room, and Rogue and Jean-Paul silently watched from above.

"—disgusting," one was saying. "We're going to have to clean this out."

"Yeah, but by Monday? It's ridiculous," the other replied.

"Government officials are investigating the facility. There can be no evidence of what Trask was doing here when they come."

"Where the hell are we going to find another facility to house all _this_?"

"One's already been lined up. Research and experiments on the mutants will continue once the new location is set up."

The second man sighed. "Let's hurry and take stock of this shit and get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

Rogue and Jean-Paul exchanged glances. Rogue had just gotten video proof of the MRD knowingly hiding what went on here from government officials. She had all the evidence Logan would need to crack the MRD wide open. And if the government wouldn't listen to Logan's claims, he'd take it to the public. Either way, the MRD would officially be going down.

Rogue waited with Jean-Paul up in the rafters while the men below did their job. By the time they had finished up, Rogue was stiff and sore. She stretched her legs out, massaging them softly, trying to get her legs to wake up.

Jean-Paul peered down carefully to make sure the coast was clear. When he was convinced the men had left, he jumped down onto the table and then to the floor. Rogue followed after when Jean-Paul motioned it was safe.

"Let's finish looking for Jeanne-Marie quickly," Rogue said quietly.

Jean-Paul nodded in agreement. "Where do you think they'll be moving all of...this...to?"

"I have no idea, but we'd better finish up here ourselves. We've been here for far longer than I'd expected."

"Yeah," Jean-Paul agreed glancing at his watch. "We were up in those rafters for at least two hours."

"Shit," Rogue cursed. Warren would have been trying to get a hold of her by now. She checked her phone for messages, having turned off the ringer when they'd arrived at the lab. Four missed calls from Warren. Two from the base, most likely from Gambit.

She groaned. Gambit would think she had been with Warren all this time. And speaking of Gambit...

Rogue cast a worried look at Jean-Paul.

"Your pulse," she began hastily. "Gambit can track your pulse. It spiked at the main building when you used your mutation and he showed up—"

"No worries." Jean-Paul smiled. "It's not nearly as taxing to use my mutation in an open room. Dodging lasers on the other hand? Not so easy." He gave a small shrug. "Besides, if that was the case, Gambit would have already been here. I used my mutation hours ago."

It was sound logic. If Jean-Paul's fluctuating vitals had been of any concern, Gambit _would_ have been here, and quickly too. After what had happened with the twins, Gambit was on high alert when it came to Jean-Paul.

Rogue still didn't know why. She'd been told that Jean-Paul was a valuable, rare mutant, but in the entire time she'd been with the MRD she had never seen Jean-Paul's mutation utilized for any missions. The only time Jean-Paul ever seemed to use his mutation was when it was of his own accord.

Nothing here made any sense. She clutched her phone protectively. The video files she'd recorded were her ticket out of this place. She wouldn't have to stay here. Once Logan had her phone, this mission would be finished. She could go home. She wouldn't need to solve any of the bizarre mysteries surrounding the mercenaries.

She looked over to Jean-Paul, who had begun his search for his sister again. She heaved a sigh.

She wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

><p>By the time she and Jean-Paul had finished searching and coming up empty handed, it was already evening. The two returned to the base. Jean-Paul was quiet, his eyes darkened with sadness. He had so badly wanted to find his sister and leave. He'd been crushed when his long search had ended in disappointment and more questions.<p>

Rogue was tired, exhausted really. It had been an incredibly tense day, but unlike Jean-Paul, her day was far from over. She still needed to find time to call Warren back and apologize privately. She also still had Gambit to contend with. She wasn't looking forward to either man right now.

She didn't want to lie to Warren or withhold information from her team, especially when spying on the MRD was her job. But she couldn't in all good consciousness leave Jean-Paul here by himself to continue the search for his sister.

She was feeling extra guilty for doubting Jean-Paul and thinking he had abandoned her in the lab. She felt just awful that she automatically jumped to the wrong conclusion about him when push came to shove. Jean-Paul had been working quickly on securing a safe place for them to hide, and Rogue had automatically assumed that he'd betrayed her.

It was this line of work, she reasoned in the end. Nobody really trusted anybody. She certainly hadn't explained to Jean-Paul why she had suddenly had his mutation, and after the two MRD agents had left, Jean-Paul had not brought the incident up again for questioning. She hoped it hadn't been a mistake to reveal more of her mutation to Jean-Paul, but in light of the situation, it had been her only choice. Logan would be furious with her for slipping up like that.

She ran her hand through her hair. She was performing less than optimally these days for her team. She had gotten so involved with the mercenaries here, especially Jean-Paul, that she found it increasingly harder and harder to differentiate who was good and who was bad.

She was sleeping with Gambit, who was now identified as a member of the Thieves' Guild. How was she even supposed to deal with that bit of truth?

It certainly hadn't changed the way she thought about Gambit, and that disturbed her to no end. Had her morals sunk so low in this job that they had all but disappeared? Gambit was a dangerous man in every sense of the word, yet she couldn't stay away. She didn't want to stay away.

She took her phone out and absently turned it around and around in her hands. According to the X-men, her job would be done, according to her, it wasn't. Staying to help Jean-Paul would ultimately help Jean-Paul, who was her friend. It also meant that she'd have more time with Gambit, a man she wasn't quite finished with yet. Hell, she wasn't sure she'd ever be finished with him. As far as she was concerned, they had only just started.

Still, she was not looking forward to facing him tonight. Theirs was a relationship based on lies and truths withheld. The only thing honest about them was their attraction and feelings for the other. If Gambit ever found out who she really was it would be a disaster. She'd learnt early on that he was not a man to be trifled with. She didn't want to admit that he scared her, but there was certainly something dark about the man when his anger was incurred. He'd certainly be angry if he ever discovered she was really an X-man.

Jean-Paul left her at the front door of the base to sneak around to the back and climb back in through his window. He was supposed to be on bed rest after all, not gallivanting around labs with Rogue. She doubted anyone would have noticed Jean-Paul had been gone all afternoon. If Gambit hadn't come looking for him, she was sure no one else would.

Rogue didn't argue. Jean-Paul looked like he needed to be alone. Sorrow and disappointment had leeched from his demeanor since they'd left the lab empty handed. He needed time to think, but more importantly, he needed to rest. If it had been an incredibly taxing day on Rogue, it had been even worse on Jean-Paul. They officially had no leads now regarding Jeanne-Marie's body. Rogue dimly wondered if they shouldn't have just taken that body labeled 'Jeanne-Marie' anyway, just in case.

She had to trust in Jean-Paul. If he said that the body wasn't his sister, then Rogue had to believe him. Jean-Paul would never have left that body if it had really been Jeanne-Marie, especially since they had learned that the MRD would be moving the lab to a new undisclosed location. Today had been their only chance. Rogue knew deep down that Jean-Paul would never let the opportunity go to waste, unless his sister really wasn't there.

Rogue was dreading the worst of Gambit's jealousy when she opened up the front door. To her surprise, no one was around. She peeked into the kitchen and caught a glimpse of Cortez making a sandwich. She shrugged and headed up to her room. Maybe she at least had enough time to shower and clean herself up before she was bombarded with Gambit and his questions regarding her and Warren.

She was even more surprised when she reached the top of the stairs and saw that Gambit's door was closed and the light was out. Mild panic trickled over her. It didn't look like he was here. Had he gone out to look for her? If so, he would have found Warren alone, and his suspicions would be incredibly great right now.

Rogue shook herself mentally. _Stop it!_ she instructed silently. She always jumped to the worst conclusions. She was just jumpy after spending all afternoon in the laboratory from hell. Once she had a shower, she'd feel better. She'd be able to wash away the sweat and grime she'd accumulated from that awful place. If she was lucky, she'd finally get the stench of embalming fluid out of her nostrils. In all honesty, she wanted to forget she had seen the things she had seen in that lab. She wanted to clean herself off, curl up in her softest pajamas and hide in her bed. Preferably with a hot mug of cocoa.

And strangely enough, after everything she'd witnessed today, she wanted Logan. She desperately wanted his guidance, his comfort, even just his presence alone. He was the closest thing to family Rogue had these days. He was the older brother she had never had. And right now, she really wanted her older brother to tell her everything was going to be okay.

But if she contacted Logan and told him what she'd found, she couldn't stay to help out Jean-Paul.

She fought back tears of frustration. She was on her own. If she thought of Logan as her older brother, she thought of Jean-Paul as her younger one. In the past few weeks, he had become family to her too. Right now, she needed to be the stronger one. She needed to be the brave, reassuring, older sibling. Jean-Paul needed her, and she couldn't let him down.

Rogue stripped off her clothes and tossed them in her laundry hamper, thankful to be out of the dreadful skirt and heels. She would never wear the outfit again. She would always remember her time in the lab every time she saw the outfit. Without a second thought, she opened up the hamper and pulled the clothes out. She shoved them into the small trash can beside her dresser. She'd throw them in the trash outside tomorrow.

Not feeling much in the mood to talk to Warren, Rogue sent him a quick text message. She let him know that she was awfully sorry, but something had come up and she had had to leave. She'd talk to Warren tomorrow and smooth things over.

Next, she headed towards the bathroom. She turned on the shower taps and let the water heat up. Stepping under the shower head was like heaven to her. The hot water eased her aching muscles and helped relieve some of her stress. The soap washed away the smell that had lingered in her nose since the laboratory. After several minutes, she began to feel like herself again.

She tipped her head back, rinsing the shampoo from her hair and caught sight of him from the corner of her eye. There was no mistaking his tall frame or his movements through the milky, transparent shower curtain. She watched him pace the bathroom nervously, as though he was trying to decide whether or not he should let her know that he was there. Rogue kept quiet and simply watched Gambit move about from behind the curtain.

A small smile curled over her lips as she watched him tentatively reach for the curtain and then snatch his hand away, running it nervously through his hair. It was obvious that he wanted to see her, debating whether or not he should intrude upon her shower or wait until she was done.

She wasn't sure what sort of a mood he was in, it was never easy to tell with Gambit, but she was happy to see him nonetheless. She'd always felt safe within his arms, and right now she wanted nothing more than to feel safe. She also wanted to forget everything, and Gambit was very good at making her forget.

"I can see you through the curtain, you know," she said lightly.

His body stopped moving, freezing in place like a guilty statue. Time itself seemed to stand silently with him. Rogue held her breath, unsure what to say next. She wanted him tonight...no, that was wrong. She _needed_ him tonight. She just wasn't sure how to go about saying it, especially when she had no idea how he felt about her having been gone well into the evening.

A soft sigh left her lips in anticipation when he began to slowly peel his shirt off over his head. She watched him eagerly with a giddy sense of excitement as he stripped himself down, stepping carefully out of his pants, then out of his socks and lastly, his underwear. Even through the blurry shower curtain, she could see his erection prominently jutting forward. Her mouth watered and she licked her lips, swallowing hard.

The curtain pulled away, letting in a hiss of cold air that shocked her already pert nipples. She drew in a sharp breath as Gambit stepped into the shower with her. The hungry look in his eyes made her want to jump into his arms and press herself against him like nobody's business. He closed the shower curtain, never taking his gaze from hers. He stepped forward towards her and Rogue readily moved to meet him.

Gambit's lips quirked up into an amused smile as Rogue reached up to meet his lips. He drew away and softly turned her around so that her back was to him. He pulled her close to his body, wrapping his arms around her as his hands began slowly kneading her breasts.

One of his hands trailed away, reaching for the bar of soap. Rogue watched as Gambit lathered his hands up then began massaging her breasts again, this time with the slipperiness of the soap suds. She moaned in satisfaction. Needing no more goading, Gambit's hands began roaming the front of her body, getting her slick and soapy as he travelled across her torso.

He pressed his erection hard against her buttocks and Rogue nearly cried out in pleasure. Her body had jumped to attention, thrumming with desire. Carnal need washed over her body the same way the water droplets from the shower did. She felt drenched with need. She rubbed herself against Gambit with her backside, gasping as her motions were appreciated and returned with Gambit's lips on the back of her neck.

"You're awfully tense, chere," he murmured into her ear, sliding his hands from her front to her back.

She sighed in appreciation as his strong hands began kneading her back and shoulders, relieving some of her tension. After the day she'd had, it was exactly what she needed. The tip of his erect penis playfully poked her behind and she smiled to herself. Well, the massage was almost exactly what she needed. There was something else...

She took the bar of soap and lathered up her own hands before reaching behind her to firmly cup Gambit's member within her grasp. He groaned fiercely with pleasure, pushing himself back up against her and abandoning her back massage all together.

His lips were back on her neck, kissing her hard with the occasional nip here and there. The sensation sent delectable shivers down her spine. Her body tingled with an intense, heated yearning. Gambit seemed to sense her increasing need and reached around to her front, only this time he went for the delicate part between her legs. He gently moved her outer lips aside and slipped his fingers past, massaging her tiny bud until she cried out, rocking her hips against his fast, deliberate strokes.

When she thought she couldn't stand it any longer, he slipped a long, slender finger deep within her. She melted against him in satisfaction, moaning softly against the pounding water droplets that fell upon their entwined bodies. His finger worked her from the inside with strong, firm movements, pumping in and out of her slowly with intensity.

She reached her peak very quickly, shouting out in ecstasy as her body trembled in glorious climax against his hand. Gambit wasted very little time after that. His hand was replaced with the hot thickness of his cock as he drove it deep within her.

Barely over her first climax, Rogue was already mounting on a second. Gambit moaned against her neck, driving himself harder and faster into her. The force left Rogue bracing herself against the shower tiles, adding the right amount of resistance to his movements to make their lovemaking passionately superb. The second wave of pleasure bowled her over into blissful delirium, her body convulsing around his member, enjoying the feel of him hard within her.

Gambit came with a low, pleasure soaked growl, sinking his body against hers. They stayed together for several minutes, breathing hard against the steam from the shower. Gambit quietly slipped out from behind her and exited the shower. Rogue, suddenly unsure of the broken intimacy, shut off the taps and followed him out.

He had a towel ready for her, holding it out much the way a gentleman does with a lady's coat. He wrapped her gently in the soft, black terry cloth, leaning his body back into hers.

"Stay the night," he murmured softly in her ear.

How could she say no?

Minutes later, they both were tangled in the sheets of his bed. Gambit was cuddly, sweet even, very different from how he usually held himself. Both were physically spent from their shower lovemaking, but Rogue was hardly tired now. Gambit had a way with igniting her senses.

He snuggled up close, trailing his fingers lightly over thigh. "Can I ask you something?" he asked softly.

Rogue nodded absently, enjoying the zing of heat his fingers left on her skin as his hands skimmed over her body.

"Why are you with the MRD?"

Rogue stiffened slightly. The question sounded harmless enough, in tone and words, yet there was something underlying in his voice.

She gave a slight shrug. "It's a good paycheck. It'll get me closer to my dream."

"Which is?"

Rogue paused. He _knew_ this. He'd read her file. She wanted enough money to disappear from the world. Her own beach house, hell, she wanted enough money for her own beach...at least, that was what she'd told the MRD. Of course, when it was copied down in her file, she made herself sound more greedy than sentimental.

"I want my own private place—a beach. I want enough money so that nobody can touch me," she answered, keeping steadily to her previous story. "Why do you ask?"

Gambit languidly stretched out an arm before tucking it back around her. "No real reason, just sometimes mutants slip in by mistake. That's all."

Warning bells were now going off in her head. He'd answered her so casually, yet there was something else going on. This was not pillow talk, no matter how Gambit tried to play it.

Rogue rolled out of his arms and sat up to face him, snatching the bed sheet to cover her exposed breasts. "Just what are you getting at?" she demanded, sounding a little shiftier than she had planned on.

His facial expression was still warm. Calm. "You're different from the other mercenaries. Have been from the start."

"So?" God, she had to stop sounding so defensive.

He gave a mild wave of his hand, gesturing to her. "So, I sometimes wonder why you are still here. You clearly disagree with some of the goings ons around this place."

"I already told you, I like the cash."

He licked his lips, contemplating her answer. "Enough to put Jean-Paul at risk?" he asked mildly.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly Rogue felt very uncomfortable. What was Gambit getting at?

"I would never do anything that would harm Jean-Paul," she answered defiantly. "You should already know that."

Gambit chuckled abruptly. The sound startled her. Rogue had no idea what was going on and she didn't like it one bit. "I _do_ know that. And that's what I thought you'd say. It's what makes you stand out, makes you not belong. It's kinda funny actually."

"I do belong here," Rogue replied back stiffly. "And there is nothing funny about it."

Gambit laughed again, low with a slight, deep rumble. Apparently he was thoroughly amused. "No, ma cherie, I'm afraid you don't belong with MRD. On paper you do, in person you do not."

Rogue narrowed her eyes in distrust. "And why don't I belong?"

Gambit shrugged softly and Rogue felt very much as though she was the mouse being toyed with by the cat. Right before dinner time.

"You care too much," he answered plainly. "It's not a big deal. Just every so often the MRD doesn't screen properly and one of you slips on through."

Rogue wasn't sure what to make of his comment. _One of you_. Did he know that she was a spy? An X-man? She decided her best bet was to reveal absolutely nothing. Stick to her original story. And if need be, God forbid, she would use her mutation to escape. Gambit had chosen poorly for this conversation, having so much flesh on both of them exposed.

His eyes twinkled mischievously. "You thinking 'bout knocking me out, chere? You've become awfully quiet."

"Maybe," she answered honestly, silently cursing and wondering if he could read her mind.

"Why do you think we are having this conversation here, like this?"

"Uh..." Rogue had no idea. Gambit already seemed to have anticipated that this conversation would lead to her using her mutation on him, so why would he plan it that way on purpose? Unless...he really didn't mean her any harm.

Gambit would never willingly put himself at a disadvantage with a spy. Rogue was one hundred percent certain of that. If he was interrogating her because he was suspicious of her reasons for being with the MRD, he would never give her an advantage over him. Never.

"Because I'm not the enemy," he answered for her. "Even though I'm sorry to have to be the one to say it, I assure you, I am not the enemy and you will not be disappearing in the sense everyone seems to be."

Fear and horror ran down her skin in unwanted goose bumps. Rogue swallowed hard, straightening her back. Gambit's words sunk in with dull thud.

"I'm sorry," she began in disbelief. "But are you _firing_ me?"

"Oui," he answered quietly.


	28. Chapter 28

Moral outrage fueled Rogue's anger quickly. Here she was, post coital in Gambit's bed with him and he was firing her in the context of what he appeared to think was pillow talk!

"You asshole!" she snarled. "You fuck me first _and then_ decide to tell me I'm fired? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Gambit looked taken aback, like he couldn't quite understand why she was suddenly so upset. "I didn't really think of it as fucking," he answered stupidly. "More of a last good bye."

"Oh my God!" Rogue trilled in exasperation, throwing her legs over the side of the bed. "You are out of your fucking mind!"

"You wouldn't be so upset if you'd just let me explain," he argued, making a desperate grab for her wrist and succeeding.

Rogue glared hard at his hand around her wrist. He quickly let go, holding his hands up in surrender. "Don't knock me out! Just please, chere, hear me out."

Rogue scowled indignantly. There was absolutely no reason to sit here and listen to Gambit's excuses. She had certainly expected better of him, and for that she almost laughed. Expect better from a mercenary? A thief? God, she really was the stupidest person alive.

Yet, her body refused to storm off towards her room even though that was what her brain was telling her to do. Instead, she was sitting back down on the bed. Still scowling, she was inexplicably willing to listen to him.

He gave her a relieved, small smile, like a crisis had been averted. "Thank you."

Rogue continued to glare at him anyway, her arms folded crossly over her bare chest.

"I'm firing you for your own good," he explained. "The MRD is not the place for you and you know it." Rogue opened her mouth to object, but Gambit continued to speak quickly. "It has nothing to do with your mercenary skills. You are exceptional, believe me, but you would do so much better elsewhere. So would Jean-Paul."

"You're firing him too?" Rogue gaped at him in disbelief. Gambit had to have known that she and Jean-Paul had been in the lab that evening snooping around. Otherwise this conversation wouldn't be happening. Regardless, she wouldn't admit to it if it came up.

"Jean-Paul needs to get out of this place," Gambit replied, not answering her question. "So do you." There was a desperate warning in his voice.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "What's going on?"

Gambit sighed in frustration. "I don't know how else to explain this, so you'll forgive me if this sounds offensive. Every so often mutants get hired here by mistake or accident. Their applications fit our profiles perfectly, but when the mutant shows up—we get something altogether different. A different temperament than what's desired. A different attitude than what is needed. Usually, these mutants apply because they need money. Most never make it past screening, but a few...like you...do."

"And Jean-Paul?" Rogue asked, trying to keep her anger at bay.

Gambit shook his head. "Jean-Paul was a bastard when he got hired. Selfish, arrogant—"

"Then Jeanne-Marie died," Rogue finished.

Gambit nodded. "It changed everything. Jean-Paul changed. Though I suppose he was never really that bad of a person to begin with. Not like some the mutants this place has seen."

"I still don't see how being fired shouldn't make me angry," Rogue admitted. Though Gambit's reasons were sound, he had told her she shouldn't be upset about being let go or for the manner in which he did it.

"I am paying you a severance package," Gambit answered. "Enough to buy an entire island if you'd like. You can leave here with your money and then some. You get your dream without continuing to work for the MRD. It's a win-win situation."

That sounded much too good to be true even though Rogue couldn't care less about the money. Nobody as far as she knew just walked away from the MRD. Nobody. She'd disappear just like every other mercenary before her if she allowed Gambit to fire her.

"Why would you do that?" she asked carefully.

"Because," Gambit replied, fringing on desperation. "I can't let you or Jean-Paul stay here any longer." He ran his hands through his hair almost angrily. "You'll have your money. You're still getting what you wanted. Just take what I'm offering and go."

"What if I don't want to go?" she asked. There was still the matter of finding Jeanne-Marie. Rogue could not abandon Jean-Paul so quickly in lieu of an easy out. "Isn't there some way you can bend the ropes?"

Gambit threw his hands up in frustration. "Why the hell would you want to stay here?"

Rogue couldn't very well explain to Gambit that she'd been busy helping Jean-Paul track down his sister's body. That was why she needed to stay. But there was another reason. A reason that hadn't really occurred to her since she'd always known it was doomed from the start.

"What about us?" she asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Gambit swallowed hard, darting his eyes away from hers angrily. The anger was not directed at her, but more at himself. "I told you I'd hurt you in the end. It just came quicker than I thought."

"It doesn't have to come quickly at all! We could still—"

"Non!" Gambit cut her off tensely. "We can't. Don't you see? I'm doing this for your own good!"

Hot tears began stinging her eyes and she hated that she was suddenly on the verge of crying. She hated that she had let a man affect her in such a way. "Well," she replied stubbornly. "I'm not leaving."

"Rogue." His voice was quiet, gentle. "I am a man who has paid dearly for past mistakes. Things I've failed to act quickly on. I refuse to have the same thing happen with you. You need to leave the MRD. It's not safe for you here."

Rogue quieted down. She could see the sincerity in his words, hear it in his voice. He really was trying to do what was best for her. He knew something was going on within the MRD and he trying to get her out quickly before she became entangled even more in this place.

"What aren't you telling me?" she whispered, pleading silently with him.

He bit his lip, contemplating. He was deciding whether or not he should confide in her. Finally he spoke up in a low, husky voice. "I have certain connections in which I am privy to classified information. I've caught wind of something going down with MRD and I want you and Jean-Paul out of here before it happens."

The Thieves, she thought. He was definitely speaking of the Thieves. More importantly, he had to be talking about the movement of Trask's lab before the government officials showed up. He wanted her and Jean-Paul long gone for when that happened. But she could help. Whatever was going on, surely she could stay and help. She wasn't ready to leave this place. She wasn't ready to leave Gambit, and she wasn't ready to abandon Jean-Paul.

It was risky, but she had to prove that she could handle whatever was coming. She had to prove she wasn't as naive and in the dark as Gambit thought. She was already too involved with what was going on within the MRD. Logan would have her head for what she was about to say next.

"If this is about Trask's lab being moved before the government shows up for inspection, I already know about it," she replied in a rather lofty tone.

Gambit gave her a startled look before he schooled his features back to his usual stoic expression. "How do you know about that?"

The tone of his carefully steady voice implied that she was on thin ice, but none of it really mattered. She'd already been fired. Gambit would have to keep her on if she already knew what was going on. He couldn't save her from something she was already a part of. She just had to convince Gambit that she was just as 'in the know' as he was. She gave a small shrug. "I have ears, you know."

"What exactly do you know about it?" he quizzed, his words running faster than usual. "Tell me everything."

Rogue rolled her eyes. She could do without the quiz. Wasn't it enough that she already said she knew about it? But then that wasn't Gambit. She'd have to tell him everything to convince him that she should stay.

"They need to move the lab to its new location before Monday," she answered, trying to downplay the situation. "Come on, I thought everyone knew that." If she made out like it was common knowledge, Gambit would be less likely to suspect how she really came across the information. He'd think she'd picked up gossip instead of snooping around in places she shouldn't have been.

"Who told you this?" Gambit barked urgently.

"Some of the human agents were talking about it," she answered cautiously, alarmed by his sudden change in manner. "I overheard the conversation." It was the truth, albeit the agents hadn't known she was there hiding in the rafters with Jean-Paul.

"Can anyone else confirm what you heard?" he demanded.

"Jean-Paul." She spoke before she had even thought. Gambit's questions were coming at her so intensely that she didn't have time to field anything first. She was starting to suspect that something was up. She was also starting to suspect that Gambit wasn't questioning her as a lark, but more because he hadn't known about the lab being moved.

Before Rogue could even blink, Gambit was rushing out of the bed, stark naked, to his computer. He didn't even sit down at his desk as he began furiously typing on the keyboard. Rogue strained her neck to see what he was typing, but from the bed, she couldn't see the screen properly. As quickly as he'd been typing, he stopped and stared at the screen. He closed the laptop and dashed to his closet.

Rogue stared in shock as Gambit began dressing as if time was the enemy.

"Gambit?" she asked, now very worried.

He stopped in mid action and turned towards her, his face blank as though he'd forgotten she was still there.

"Get dressed. Get Jean-Paul. Get out."

"I don't understand—"

"Chere!" he snarled in absolute frustration. "You need to get out of here."

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere—"

He growled in utter aggravation, and despite herself, Rogue jumped back.

"Listen to me, Anna," he started again, trying very hard to sound calm and pleasant. "I _really_ need you to get Jean-Paul out of here now. I need you to take him somewhere safe, somewhere the two of you can lie low until I can get to you, understand?"

Rogue nodded slowly. Whatever was going on, the situation had become dire. Maybe she didn't want to leave, but it had become very apparent to her that Jean-Paul needed to.

"I'm trusting you to take care of him," Gambit pressed directly. "On your life. If you care about Jean-Paul the way I know you do, you will get him out of here and to safety."

Rogue nodded again, the severity of the situation hitting home. For whatever reason, Jean-Paul was in danger. "I will."

"Good," Gambit replied in satisfaction, seemingly mollified.

He finished dressing and Rogue took his cue to grab her own clothes from her room. She dressed quickly, wanting to hurry back to his room before he was gone. Gambit was already standing in her room when she turned towards the bathroom door.

"Pack quickly, take anything important. I'll handle the rest," he instructed.

Rogue did as she was told, packing as quickly as she could. When she was done, she looked to Gambit.

"You got everything you need?" he asked, oddly quiet.

"Yeah," she answered, her voice hitching.

They stared at each other in silence. Though neither had said it, this was good-bye.

Gambit swallowed hard, his eyes glancing away. "Promise me you will be careful."

"What about you?" she asked. Tears began to well in her eyes again.

"Don't worry about me," he replied, shrugging nonchalantly. He gave her a devilish grin. "I'll be fine."

"When will I see you?"

"As soon as I can." It wasn't much of an answer, but it was all she was going to get. He seemed to sense her unrest in his final sentence and he stepped forward, cupping her cheek within his palm. "I wish I had been someone else when I met you."

It was a beyond bizarre thing to say. Rogue wasn't sure how to take it. It wasn't exactly what a girl wanted to hear before the man she loved sent her away. She furrowed her brows slightly before Gambit pressed his lips to hers, kissing her fiercely. It was hard and fast, but with all the passion and tenderness she felt whenever she was with him. It wiped away all her confusion and questions for a brief moment.

This was good-bye. He wasn't saying it, but she knew that even if he did see her again, there wouldn't be a 'them' anymore.

Something big was going on with the MRD. Something that would endanger Jean-Paul. She had wanted to help Gambit. Now she was.

Gambit gently pulled away from her, ending their final kiss. "Go," he urged as he pressed his smartphone into the palm of her hand. "Jean-Paul's vitals and GPS," he explained.

Rogue took the phone, confused. "But how will you find us?"

He chuckled softly. "I know my own phone number. Now go."

Without wasting any more time, Rogue nodded and went to get Jean-Paul.

Convincing Jean-Paul to leave was easier than Rogue thought. At first he was stunned silent, staring at her as though she had completely lost her mind. When Rogue explained that they were in danger, Jean-Paul wasted no time at all packing.

Rogue felt guilty about her methods. She conveniently let Jean-Paul believe that they had been discovered. She didn't outright say it, but when she told him that she had been fired and that he was next, Jean-Paul jumped to his own conclusions.

As she helped her friend pack, she couldn't help but wonder what was so important about Jean-Paul that his life would be on the line. From day one, Gambit had been protecting him, keeping an eye on him, keeping him safe. Now that responsibility had fallen to Rogue. She hadn't even asked for an explanation. She should have demanded Gambit tell her what was going on. Hell, if she'd been in her right mind, she would have absorbed him and found out the good old fashioned way.

But no, she just had to go and fall in love with the guy. Get attached just enough so that invading his mind made her feel guilty; made her feel like she was a horrid person for not trusting him, even though she had every reason not to. _Love,_ it was certainly a bitch.

She knew that Gambit was already gone. There was no point in entertaining the idea of going back to her room and finding him still there, pining over her. That was stupid. Whatever was going on, Gambit was gone. If she had been any sort of spy, she would have gotten her answers one way or another. Instead, she'd blown her chances and had hurried to Jean-Paul's side, caught up in the need to keep him safe.

How the hell was she going to explain this to Logan? She was going to have to. She had nowhere else to go. Jean-Paul needed a safe haven and whether she liked it or not, the mansion was the safest place to bring him. She felt like such an idiot. How was she going to convince Logan to let Jean-Paul stay when she didn't even know why he needed protection in the first place? Not only that, but she had no idea who they were protecting him from. She'd stupidly failed to ask Gambit that as well.

Furthermore, to tell Logan that Gambit had sent her away, and that she was trusting his word, was going to be career suicide. She'd be lucky if Logan ever let her go on another mission again, let alone stay on as an X-man. God, this was going to be a disaster.

She hadn't even thought about how she was going to tell Jean-Paul that the entire time she'd been with MRD, she'd been spying on them all. She sighed. She didn't want to bring him to the mansion and have him find out who she really was. All the secrets, all the lies, it would be Domino all over again.

But she didn't have a choice.

Even if Jean-Paul hated her like Domino, at least he'd be safe.

And that was all that mattered.

Keeping Jean-Paul safe.

"Okay," Jean-Paul said with a deep breath. "I'm ready." He gave his room a final once over. "I just wish I was leaving here with my sister."

Rogue put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll think of some way to find her," Rogue reassured. Maybe going home was the answer. With the mansion's resources, maybe locating Jeanne-Marie wouldn't be so hard. "This isn't over yet."


	29. Chapter 29

The look of terror and surprise on Jean-Paul's face as Rogue pulled up to the X-mansion's gates did not give Rogue a good feeling. Jean-Paul was never going to forgive her once he knew everything she'd been hiding. It wasn't fair, but that was her job. This was the part she hated most about working as a double agent. The moment of truth.

"Rogue," Jean-Paul said warily, never taking his wide eyes from the mansion. "We shouldn't be here. I can tell you right now, we aren't welcome at this place, no matter the circumstances."

"Xavier's school is a safe haven—"

"Was," Jean-Paul corrected. "It was a safe haven when Xavier was in charge. No mutant with a shifty record comes near the place since Wolverine stepped in as leader." He gave Rogue a strange look. "Every merc I've met knows that."

Rogue didn't. It would explain why Logan was having some difficulties recruiting new X-men. It seemed his reputation proceeded him, and not in a good way.

She opened her car door. "Trust me, Jean-Paul. We'll be safe here."

Jean-Paul hesitated, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Rogue continued to walk up to the mansion's door without him. If she knew Jean-Paul like she thought she did, he wouldn't stay in the car too long. He'd have no choice but to follow her, even if it was to try and dissuade her from knocking on the door. That was just Jean-Paul. Whatever his reasons, he did trust Rogue, and he would follow.

Sure enough he was beside her at the door and grabbing her arm. "I'm serious, you're going to get us killed."

Rogue sighed. She didn't want to have to say it just yet. She wanted to keep things the same between her and Jean-Paul for just a few moments longer. "It'll be fine," Rogue said as she grabbed the door knob and opened the door.

Jean-Paul gasped and quickly jerked her hand away from the door. "Not if you go waltzing in like you live here!"

Rogue slumped her shoulders. She had hoped she could at least get him inside before she told him the truth. "Jean-Paul," she started quietly. "I do live here."

He didn't answer her, but at least he followed her inside.

The parlour was empty, Rogue hadn't really expected a welcoming committee, but it would have been nice to have someone show up. She had just walked right in through the front door. Who the hell was running security and monitoring the cameras? It was late evening and the door was still unlocked. Rogue rolled her eyes. It had to be either Bobby or Kitty. They were the only two stupid enough to shirk their duties to flirt awkwardly with each other instead.

"Hello?" Rogue called, her voice echoing through the vast corridors and staircases. "I'm back!"

"Shhhhhhh," Jean-Paul hissed, crouching beside her in disbelief.

"It's the truth, Jean-Paul. I really do live here," Rogue said again. The words felt like ashes in her mouth. "I'm an X-man."

This time Jean-Paul looked at her. Really looked at her. She cringed, waiting for his angry words. She had betrayed his trust and officially ruined the friendship. She awaited his anger, hell, she expected it. Instead, Jean-Paul remained quiet, studying her intently.

"No kidding?" he asked, his face serious.

Rogue sighed in defeat. "No kidding."

At that moment, Bobby came from the kitchen and walked past them. "Hey, Rogue," he greeted casually before disappearing into another room with a plate of food.

Both Rogue and Jean-Paul stared at the door Bobby had gone through.

Jean-Paul shrugged, nonplussed. "Hmm, no kidding."

It was Rogue's turn to look shocked. "Aren't you mad? I've been lying to you about who I am for the past month!"

"Rogue." Jean-Paul grinned. "I told you, everybody lies. And I told you everybody withholds truths. Unless you don't act like the you that I know, then it really isn't that big of deal, is it?"

"I guess not," Rogue admitted, surprised at how well Jean-Paul was taking the news. Domino had not taken it so well, but Jean-Paul was not Domino. Perhaps it was time Rogue stopped comparing every friendship to that of her failed one. It didn't appear to hold any merit against her friendship with Jean-Paul. "I just sorta expected you to feel betrayed. Angry even."

"I've been living with heartless mercenaries for years. It's kind of refreshing to know that the one person I made a connection with isn't really one of them." Jean-Paul winked. "In fact, I'm actually relieved you aren't."

Suddenly the door that Bobby had gone through flew open. "Rogue!" Bobby shouted in excitement. "You're back!"

"Nice of you to notice," Rogue answered dryly.

Bobby's face reddened in embarrassment. "I saw you, I just...it didn't really click in that it was you!"

It wasn't long before Bobby's shouting stirred the rest of mansion's inhabitants to the front parlour. Jean-Paul nervously stepped behind Rogue and with good reason. The look Logan had given him was scathing and suspicious.

"Who's he?" Logan demanded, not even bothering to say 'hi'.

"Geez, Logan," Rogue grumbled, feeling slighted. "I've been gone for weeks and you can't even greet me in a civilized manner?"

Jean-Paul inhaled sharply with fear. Whether it was because he was worried for himself because he was a stranger, or worried for her, Rogue didn't know.

"So, who is he?" Logan asked again, this time with a hint of civility.

"This is Jean-Paul," Rogue introduced, adding firmly, "he's my friend."

"He a merc?" Logan sniffed the air and eyed Jean-Paul carefully.

"Was," Rogue answered sternly. "Now he needs our protection."

"From what?"

Rogue faltered, losing her ground with Logan. "I don't know. The MRD, I suppose."

"Why?"

"Why don't I know or why he needs protection?" Rogue countered.

Logan gave a shrug. "Both."

"I can't answer either," she admitted.

"So then how do you know he needs protection?" Logan asked with a vicious gleam in his eye.

Rogue scowled. She knew what he was trying to get at. Her incompetence. Her failure. Her inability to follow the simplest instructions with this mission. She'd known since the moment that she and Gambit had broken into the mansion and had been confronted by Logan that Logan did not fully trust her abilities with mission. Now he was all but saying the words.

"Because I was told he did," Rogue answered rather annoyed. "I got a tip off from a reliable source—"

"Who?" Logan growled.

God, she didn't want to have to say it.

"Gambit," she answered quietly.

Logan laughed maliciously. "Reliable source, huh? Really, Rogue. I expected better from you."

Rogue bowed her head down and felt like crawling into a hole somewhere to lick her wounds. There. He had finally said it. There was no way Logan was going to co-operate. He'd been waiting for this confrontation since day one. Since the moment she had contradicted him. Logan never let anything go.

"Better?" Jean-Paul's angry voice snapped against the still silence that had fallen over the room.

Rogue shot her head up just in time to see Jean-Paul brushing past her and standing directly in front of her in a protective manner. Jean-Paul was facing off with Logan. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed it. Her darling, sweet, frightened friend was standing up to Logan for her.

"How dare you?" Jean-Paul continued to speak to Logan in an angry, accusing tone. "You have no idea the lengths she's gone through for you people! The lengths she's gone through for me! And she didn't have to! So before you decide to judge her so quickly, it might do you well to first listen to everything she has to say. This woman saved my life and has aided me greatly when no one else would! She is my best friend, I will not stand here and have you belittle her in front of me."

"You've got some guts, sad eyes," Logan retorted with a low growl.

Storm stepped forward. "He's right, Logan. We don't know the whole story, but what we do know is that Rogue would never bring someone here and reveal who she really is unless she trusted them."

"I dunno..." Logan muttered.

"He's not a spy," Emma Frost replied from the back of the room. "I've been reading him for some time now. A sad history and a scared man who has made mistakes, but not a spy."

"Like I'll take _your_ word." Logan sneered at the blonde psychic.

Storm sighed in annoyance. "And you wonder why no one wants to be an X-man anymore."

Logan rolled his eyes. "All right, Rogue, start talking and I'll listen."

Rogue hadn't expected Logan to listen. She gave storm and Emma both thankful looks for siding with her, or at least giving her the opportunity to present her case fairly. She and Jean-Paul exchanged glances of gratitude.

The group retreated to a more comfortable setting, and Rogue explained everything. Rogue omitted most of her interactions with Gambit and her questions surrounding him. There was no need to have Logan go ballistic over the fact that Rogue had fallen for the mysterious and highly suspicious mercenary leader. It wouldn't add any credibility to her information. She simply stated that she had earned Gambit's trust and that with much prodding, Gambit had revealed that they were not safe and needed to leave. It was close enough to the truth.

Then Jean-Paul retold his story and everything he had been through.

Finally between the two, Rogue had managed to relay all the information she thought was worth telling. They had talked about the lab, the disappearing mutants, Jean-Paul's sister and lastly they speculated on why the sudden danger.

Logan seemed placated enough for the time being, but Rogue could see the discontent in his eyes. Without saying it, she knew Logan well enough to know that he wouldn't have left the MRD. He would have stayed on secretly to find out what all the supposed danger was about. He had expected the same from her. Rogue felt slightly ashamed. She had let Logan down. She hadn't performed in the way he had wanted.

"Well," Storm said, standing up with a stretch and a yawn. "It's getting late, and I think we all need to get some sleep."

"We'll talk more in the morning," Logan stated, implying that he wasn't quite satisfied with things.

The rest of the team agreed, and Jean-Paul was directed to one of the empty rooms. Rogue found him after she had gotten dressed for bed. It was nice to be back in her own house and soon in her own bed. It was even nicer that Jean-Paul was with her. She knocked softly on Jean-Paul's door and waited for him to answer.

"It's open," he answered softly.

Rogue entered the room and found her friend sitting on his bed, looking at a small photograph. There was that deep sadness to Jean-Paul's eyes again and Rogue bit her lip. He was thinking of his sister again.

She softly walked across the room and sat down beside him, peering over at the photograph. Jean-Paul turned the photo so she could have a better look.

"It was taken the summer we turned sixteen," he said with a faint smile.

Rogue returned the smile and looked at the photo. Both the twins had the same dark hair, the same shining eyes, same nose, same smile. They looked like happy siblings. Jean-Paul looked so young and carefree. And Jeanne-Marie...well, she was simply stunning with delicate buttercups adorning her hair.

It was the first time Rogue had ever seen what Jeanne-Marie had looked like. Jean-Paul had been right. There was no way that the body they had found under Jeanne-Marie's name in the lab could be her. While Rogue admitted to the similarities the two had, there was no mistaking that the body had not been that of Jean-Paul's sister. Rogue swallowed hard, fully understanding how awful that had been for Jean-Paul. In the back of her mind, she had hoped that he was mistaken, but after seeing the photo of Jean-Paul and his sister, there was no way. How horrible to see an imposter of a loved one—and a dead one at that.

Rogue continued to admire the photo and gaze on at the slender form of Jeanne-Marie. After all this time she finally had a real face to put to the name. Jeanne-Marie was radiant, and although Rogue couldn't quite put her finger on it, there was something so familiar about the girl, like they had met before.

Rogue shook her head slightly. She was being silly. Of course Jeanne-Marie looked familiar; she looked like Jean-Paul. And it was most likely that Rogue had heard so much of Jeanne-Marie that she felt like she had known her. How absurd to think that somewhere in the back of her mind she had actually known the real woman.

Rogue brushed off her odd thoughts and focused on something to say to Jean-Paul about his photograph or about his sister. He could use the comfort right now, and perhaps talking about happier times would help.

"She sure is pretty," Rogue commented.

"Yeah." Jean-Paul smiled wistfully. "Like a fairy princess."

"Especially with those buttercups in her hair," Rogue replied and then felt like kicking herself. Jean-Paul had had a bouquet of buttercups to bring to Jeanne-Marie's grave. How could Rogue have forgotten? Obviously the flowers had been Jeanne-Marie's favourites. Rogue hoped that she hadn't dredged up recent unhappy memories. Andrea had said some rather cruel things to Jean-Paul about the flowers on the anniversary of Jeanne-Marie's death.

"Those are the _lesser known_ marsh marigolds," Jean-Paul answered fondly. "Often mistaken as buttercups. They grew wild all over our hometown. Jeanne-Marie loved them."

Marsh marigolds? Now why did that sound familiar? Rogue pursed her lips in thought. She couldn't help the nagging sensation that there was something underlying going on here. She just didn't know what.

"Oh," Rogue answered vaguely, still deep in a searching thought. "I'm not much of a plant person. I'd never be able to tell the difference."

"Me either!" Jean-Paul answered with a smile. "If it wasn't for my sister and her love of botany, I'd never know anything about plants." Jean-Paul chuckled. "Did you know that Jeanne was such an avid gardener that she had actually succeeded in cultivating _white _skullcaps?"

"N-no," Rogue answered with a shiver, Jean-Paul's words jerking her abruptly from her thoughts. Rogue hadn't the faintest idea what a skullcap flower was, yet she recognized the name. She could even see the tiny, white flower in her mind's eye. If she could just concentrate and find what it was she was looking for...

"—normally they are a light purple, or blue—" Jean-Paul's voice rattled on in the background as Rogue delved deeper into her mind.

How could she possibly have known what a white skullcap looked like?

Then it hit her.

She knew why she recognized the names of the plants. She knew why she knew what a skullcap was.

Gambit.

Everything came flooding forward in Rogue's mind at once. Gambit was a garden hobbyist. Gambit had been photographed with white skullcaps. Lord, she had been on the avid gardener's website dozens of times, thinking that Gambit was secretly an adorable, sensitive man who enjoyed making things grow.

She had been wrong.

It had all been a cover up. A front for something else. But what?

Rogue swallowed hard. She was definitely on to something here as she began to recall things she had learned from Gambit very vividly in her mind. Things she had seen in Gambit's mind. Memories she had been unable to hold on to before as they slipped back into the sea of Gambit's psyche. This time she could see all the details clearly.

_It was night out, crickets were chirping. Irises and white skullcaps blew softly in the night wind, surrounding the two figures. Cloaked in darkness, Gambit stood facing a woman with long, black hair and shining, sad eyes. He gently cupped her face as a tear slid down her cheek._

"_I promise you on my life, cherie," he whispered. "I will protect your brother at all costs."_

Rogue gasped out loud. The sound broke off the rest of the memory. It didn't matter. Rogue had what she needed. Jeanne-Marie. That was why she looked so familiar when Rogue had seen the memory the first time. Jeanne-Marie looked like her brother. Subconsciously Rogue had noticed the similarities, but had never made the connection. At the time, she hadn't even known that Jean-Paul had a sister. Now the pieces were falling fast into place.

The woman from Gambit's memories was none other than Jeanne-Marie. Gambit had known Jean-Paul's sister.

And he had lied about it.

"What?" Jean-Paul asked, clearly startled but her loud gasp. He stared at Rogue intently.

"I need your laptop now!" Rogue shouted in a hurry.

Jean-Paul skittered off the bed like a nervous rabbit to retrieve his laptop. "What's going on?" he asked in a panic.

"I can't explain it yet," Rogue rattled, urgently motioning for the laptop.

Jean-Paul quickly handed over his computer and Rogue wasted no time booting it up and accessing the internet. Jean-Paul sat down beside her, nervous and curious all at the same time.

When Rogue found the avid gardener's site, Jean-Paul exhaled deeply. "Plants," he confirmed with relief. "I thought something horrible had happened for a second there."

"Not something horrible," Rogue murmured, clicking on the forum page of the site. "Something that may lead us to finding your sister." Rogue turned the laptop towards Jean-Paul. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Jean-Paul's jaw dropped. "Oh my God," he breathed in shock.


	30. Chapter 30

Jean-Paul stared at the screen of his laptop, frowning. "What _is_ this?

"It's a conversation between MarshMarigold and SkullcapServant," Rogue replied.

"I see that," Jean-Paul said with a grimace. "But how is it that those are the _two flowers_ we were just talking about?"

Rogue sighed and clicked the mouse over the site's photograph gallery. She knew where the photo of Gambit was located by heart and scrolled down to it.

"Holy shit," Jean-Paul exclaimed in astonishment. "That's Gambit."

"An avid gardener as well," Rogue added dryly.

"Those are white skullcaps," Jean-Paul noted, pointing at the white, clustered flowers in the photo that bunched around the irises. "Very tricky to cultivate."

"Your sister knew how," Rogue replied. "And you said yourself she was an _avid gardener_."

Jean-Paul scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Her words, not mine. A strange coincidence that that is the name of this site."

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Rogue admitted. "I don't even think this is a real site. I think it's a cover."

"For what?" Jean-Paul asked.

"I don't know, but Gambit's involved and..." Rogue hesitated.

"And?"

"And I think your sister is too."

"Rogue," Jean-Paul answered seriously. "My sister is dead."

Rogue swallowed the tight lump that had formed in her throat. "I'm starting to think that she is alive."

Jean-Paul's eyebrows furrowed together in abrupt anger. "How can you even say that? My sister is dead. I saw her body with my own eyes the day it happened."

"I know," Rogue placated quietly. "It's just—well, look at this site. You said yourself that Jeanne-Marie was an avid gardener and that she used the term herself. That's the name of the site. Then you tell me that marsh marigolds, a lesser known flower is her favourite, and low and behold, someone on this site uses that as their moniker to converse with a person called SkullcapServant. Who, I might add could very likely be Gambit considering there is a photo of him posing with _white _skullcaps—a flower that your sister knows how to grow!"

"I admit that this is eerie, but to suggest that Jeanne-Marie is alive—"

"She knows Gambit!" Rogue blurted out. "I saw it in his mind; he promised he'd look after you!"

"What?" Jean-Paul asked, horrified.

Rogue's eyes widened. In a moment of sheer desperation she had revealed the rest of her mutation. And since she hadn't explained it first, she was coming off as a complete lunatic.

"My mutation," she answered hastily. "I don't just knock people out; I sorta absorb bits of them as well."

Worry turned to understanding as it dawned on Jean-Paul. "At the lab, you...you touched me and suddenly had my powers."

"I had to keep it a secret," Rogue continued in a rushed, pleading tone. She couldn't afford to have Jean-Paul angry with her now. She needed him to believe her. "I never would have gotten into the MRD if they knew all of what I can do."

"I..." he hesitated. "I understand; it's just that this is all a little...overwhelming." Jean-Paul rubbed his temples. "First you tell me that you don't think my sister is dead, and now you're telling me that she knew Gambit?"

"Yeah," Rogue answered a little sheepishly. It sounded farfetched, even to her. She couldn't imagine how badly Jean-Paul would be hurting if she was wrong about all of this.

"Okay." Jean-Paul breathed the word like a mantra, regaining some of his calm. "Let me see that." He reached for the laptop with shaky hands and Rogue handed it over. He flipped back to the forum page and began to read.

"SkullcapServant: Transplant of maple and magnolia was a success. They will not be affected by the sudden infestation." Jean-Paul licked his lips and continued to read. "MarshMarigold: Good. I've always been rather fond of that maple." Jean-Paul sighed in frustration. "It's just gardening drabble..." Then he frowned. "But why would anyone plant a maple and a magnolia together? Unless..." He scrolled further up to past posts.

After several minutes of silence, Jean-Paul spoke up.

"It's code. They're speaking in code. Look—" Jean-Paul tipped the computer in Rogue's direction. "They are talking about us! I'm the maple, you know 'cause I'm Canadian, and you're the magnolia, being from the south and all. The other mercs are here as well, though less prominent."

Rogue flitted her eyes across the screen. If she replaced 'maple' with Jean-Paul, and herself with 'magnolia', her entire time at the MRD base seemed to play out in the form of gardening terms and words. Her suspicions had to be right. Gambit had to be SkullcapServant.

SkullcapServant had even admitted that the magnolia was his favourite plant and loved everything about it. MarshMarigold had warned him of such attachments to 'a plant' citing that '_even the most well loved plants could rot or harbour pests_' and that he should be very careful.

"MarshMarigold has a disturbing interest in the wellbeing of the maple," Jean-Paul whispered. "They put it in the care of SkullcapServant. If we are correct, and I am the maple and Gambit is Skullcapservant, then MarshMarigold could very well be..." His voice trailed off in a sob. "My sister."

"Jean-Paul," Rogue said softly, drawing her arm around him.

"If what you say is true, and Gambit and my sister knew each other well enough that she would ask him to look out for me..." Jean-Paul swallowed hard. "And her favourite flowers were marsh marigolds...God," he sobbed. "These posts are all current! If MarshMarigold _is_ my sister then she must be alive! That—that body in the lab, it wasn't her. She could still be alive!"

He was rambling as he pieced things together and came to terms with the fact that it was very probable that Jeanne-Marie was alive and was in contact with Gambit. Jeanne-Marie was all over the website; from the gardening angle, to the site's name, even the flowers she loved. Rogue was positive that she was alive and well.

The question now was: why? Why had Jeanne-Marie faked her death? Why had she kept herself hidden? And why would anyone abandon their brother to such a horrible place? If what Rogue and Jean-Paul were speculating was true, how on earth could Jeanne-Marie have carried on knowing that her brother was trapped by the MRD? Surely she had to know what Jean-Paul faced; she had sent Gambit to protect him.

Who was Jeanne-Marie really?

Rogue was trying to work out answers when Jean-Paul abruptly got up and began to get dressed. It wasn't until he started putting on his shoes that Rogue became alarmed.

"What are you doing?" she asked with concern.

"Gambit knows my sister, and I want answers. I'm going back to the base."

"We can't go now," Rogue argued desperately. "It's not safe, I promised him!"

"And he's up to something. He has information on my sister, Rogue."

"Gambit was very adamant that I keep you hidden somewhere safe. You are in danger."

"Of what?" He scoffed. "Finding out the truth? Seeing my sister again?"

"He's right, y'know," Logan said from the door way, alerting the two to his presence.

Rogue scowled. "You've been spying on us!"

Logan shrugged, entering the room. "Good thing, too. Sad eyes here wants to go back, and I want to check out this _implied danger_. That's two against one, Rogue."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Rogue replied. The feeling had started the moment Jean-Paul had decided to go. Gambit had wanted Jean-Paul away from the MRD for a good reason. She knew him well enough to know that he had been desperate, panicky, even paranoid about Jean-Paul's safety. It was a rare thing to see Gambit caught off guard and acting desperate. She'd never seen him so agitated like she had when he found out the lab was being moved.

"You don't have to come," Logan replied almost smugly.

Rogue clenched her fists. "I promised to keep Jean-Paul safe."

"You also promised to help me find my sister," Jean-Paul added quietly.

Rogue was at a loss. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes, running her hand through her hair. "We should wait until I hear from Gambit—"

Logan growled. "He'll be safe enough with me. You gonna come along or not?"

Rogue blew a breath of hot air. "Yeah," she replied bitterly. "I'm coming along."

Though she had agreed to go with Logan and Jean-Paul back to the base, she really did not want to. There was something dangerous in the air tonight and Rogue couldn't help but feel it. Gambit had trusted her to look after Jean-Paul, and now she was bringing him back to the very place she had been told to leave. She tried to reassure herself that everything would be all right. Logan would be with them. Logan would make sure Jean-Paul was kept safe. He hadn't said it, but Rogue knew that he wouldn't put Jean-Paul in danger. Not after she had swore to protect him. Logan would honour Rogue's promise the best way he could, even if he was leading them into unknown danger.

There was no talking either man out of going. Logan wanted to know exactly what was going with the MRD, something Rogue had failed to do. Jean-Paul wanted answers. Answers he deserved to hear, especially after three years of believing his sister was dead. Rogue didn't blame either of them; she just wished that they had enough patience and sense to lie low until Gambit got in touch with her.

Logan left a few brief instructions with Beast and Forge before he left with Rogue and Jean-Paul. At least Logan had enough sense to let the rest of the team know what was going on. There had been times in the past where Logan just took off and did things his own way without telling anybody. In those days, no one ever knew if he was coming back or not. Some things did change for the better.

When they arrived back at the mercenary base, they arrived too late. The building had been abandoned and wiped clean. As they prowled the familiar halls, Rogue couldn't find any trace of them ever being there in the first place. Jean-Paul was just as perplexed.

"It's like we were never here," he mused aloud. "Everything is gone."

_Pack quickly, take anything important. I'll handle the rest._ Gambit's words range loudly in Rogue's head. Is this what Gambit had meant? Had he really been able to wipe the place clean? And for what purpose?

Logan sniffed the air. "I'm not getting a damn thing here. This place has been wiped." He frowned thoughtfully. "It's almost too good of a job to the trained eye."

"How so?" Jean-Paul asked. "Just our stuff is gone. The grime is still here."

Logan gave a wicked smile and tapped his nose. "I can smell the underlying cleaning products. This place was wiped spotless by a highly trained team and then re-dirtied to hide the evidence."

Jean-Paul shook his head in disbelief. "Who would go through that kind of trouble to erase any evidence of the mercs working here?"

Logan shrugged. "My guess is the Thieves. Gambit's working for them. Must've tipped him off about something." He turned to Rogue. "_Something_ to spook you into leaving."

Rogue gritted her teeth. She hadn't been spooked. Logan was still sore about her abandoning her post and was adding it subtly into his words. Rogue refused to start a fight with Logan here. She had done what she had thought was the right thing to do. Logan be damned. He wasn't always right about everything.

"I guess we should go to the main building?" Jean-Paul offered up with uncertainty. "There has to be something there, right?"

Logan's ears perked up. "Main building, eh?"

Rogue groaned. Something was not right here and she wanted to go back to the safety of the mansion. They didn't need to be involved in everything. They had video proof of the crimes the MRD had committed. They didn't need to snoop around anymore. Even Jean-Paul could get his answers if they just waited for Gambit to call. They didn't need to go off, guns a blazin' into the night and into the MRD's clutches. Or for that matter, the Thieves' clutches.

"I think we should just wait." Rogue tried to talk some sense into the men again. It was no use. Jean-Paul and Logan had already headed for the car. They hadn't even heard her. Rogue heaved a distressed sigh and followed after. The sinking feeling of doom never left the pit of her stomach.

Rogue was determined to keep her cool and her wits about her. It was apparent that Logan was going to be acting smug and rash, mostly to prove to Rogue how easy her job had really been. Jean-Paul was going in hot-headed and his judgement would be compromised. His sister was most likely alive and he wanted answers. He wanted answers so badly that he was willing to come back to the MRD despite the danger he was in.

The MRD's main building looked just as abandoned as the mercenary base had been. As they approached the building, Rogue tensed warily. Without the pass key and the pre-planned, timed entrances they would never get in without setting off an alarm. The MRD agents would rain down on them in a matter of minutes.

And then how would Rogue be able to protect Jean-Paul? Even with Logan, they'd hardly be a match for an army of MRD agents.

"We can't get into the building without a pass key and the time codes," Rogue stated firmly, hoping it would derail this mad attempt from both men. She hoped Jean-Paul would see reason. They didn't even know that Gambit was in this building to begin with. Jean-Paul had gotten caught up in Logan's brigade. It was an easy thing to do, Rogue had been caught up in Logan's frenzied energy for truth and justice many times. It was what made those ballsy enough to follow him act just like him with an unhinged enthusiasm.

Jean-Paul gave her a sly grin and pulled out his smartphone. "All I need to do is hack the MRD system," he answered coolly, typing away on the phone's keypad.

"You can do that from a phone?" Logan asked, impressed.

"Already done," Jean-Paul said, tucking his phone away. "All I needed was an internet connection."

Rogue rolled her eyes. Of course she had forgotten about Jean-Paul's savvy computer skills. "You still don't have a pass key."

Naturally, Jean-Paul whipped one of those out from his back pocket. "Sure, I do," he replied rather smugly. "I've always had one."

Rogue vaguely remembered Cortez saying something about _all of her superiors_ having the keys. Jean-Paul was one of the original mutants hired by the MRD. He'd been higher up in years of service than even Gambit. It was little wonder he had a key of his own. Ultimately, this meant very little to Rogue. It simply meant that she had run out of arguable points to leave the main building as dark and undisturbed as it appeared.

Jean-Paul, in a moment of controlled authority that surprised Rogue, explained to Logan the mechanics of the security at the main building.

"Clever," Logan murmured thoughtfully and Rogue wondered if he was thinking of employing a similar method of security at the mansion. Lord knew they could use it.

Once inside the main building, Rogue eased up a bit. Everything here looked exactly the same as it had when she'd been here before. The darkness and security lighting remained the same; even the soft hum of the electronics gave her a small comfort. It meant that this building had not been abandoned like the mercenary base...or tampered with. Still, Rogue could sense that feeling of foreboding seeping through the air. It was an unmistakable warning that shouted they shouldn't be here.

If Logan or Jean-Paul felt the same way, they didn't show it. It made Rogue behave extra cautiously as they travelled throughout the building. It wasn't until the three were rummaging around on one of the office floors that Logan stiffened briskly, stopping what he was doing immediately.

Rogue froze into place, the feeling of dread slipped over her like a dark blanket. Logan only ever cocked his head warily to the side and sniffed the air like an animal when danger was afoot. He sensed trouble, and right now he was busy determining where the threat was coming from. Instinctively, Rogue inched closer to Jean-Paul. If Logan's senses were correct, as they often were, then Rogue wanted to be as close to Jean-Paul as possible. He needed protection. Even Logan had moved smoothly towards him.

"Logan?" Rogue whispered.

He raised his hand for her to hush. She closed her mouth immediately and watched him intently. Logan was now listening very carefully. Jean-Paul cast Rogue a worried glance. A slight shuffling noise had Rogue turning abruptly towards the sound. She squinted her eyes, peering into the darkness surrounding the office. She couldn't see a thing, but only an idiot would believe that they were still alone on this floor.

The shuffling sound was followed by the sharp snickt of Logan unsheathing his claws. Rogue followed suite and readied herself for a fight. Minutes passed like hours as the three stood in still silence as the soft shuffling of bodies enveloped around them. Then, like the first stars shining in the night, Rogue saw the tiny, red pinpoints dotting their bodies. They were completely surrounded and with laser sights on them, marking them as targets for unseen weapons.

Rogue tensed. The MRD had arrived, and this time, fully armed.

"Freeze!" a loud male voice commanded from the dark. "Drop your weapons, we have you surrounded.

Logan growled a low growl from the back of his throat. He sounded almost feral. "I should have known," he muttered in utter contempt as the unknown assailants ventured closer to them and stepped into the light.

Rogue gasped in surprise.

_Not_ the MRD.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Logan confirmed with a sneer. "Wish I'd recalled that scent quicker."

"Hands where I can see them!" the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent barked.

Logan did the unthinkable and stepped forward. All around her, Rogue could hear the simultaneous cocking of triggers. She huddled closer to Jean-Paul, their bodies covered in numerous red dots. If Logan wasn't careful, he'd be the only one making it out of here alive. Unlike Logan, Rogue and Jean-Paul did not have his healing factor.

"Watch where you point those things," Logan snarled angrily. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Some of the agents shifted curiously, their weapons still trained on the three mutants. Logan gave an annoyed groan, and ripped his dog tags from his neck. He actually tossed the tags at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that had been barking orders. With crazy precision, the agent caught the tags in his hand without ever taking his eyes or weapon off Logan. He handed the tags to an agent behind him.

"_Wolverine_," the man read with awe in his voice. "Sir, it's _him_."

"I don't care who he is, or was," the first agent replied coldly. "Our orders are to apprehend all unknowns in the building." He spoke his words directly at Logan. "I suggest you all come quietly now, before this gets rough."

"Too late," Logan answered.

Rogue inhaled sharply, squeezing her eyes shut. Jean-Paul clutched her sleeve, gasping. Logan was fully intending on fighting. He knew S.H.I.E.L.D. practices well enough to risk it, but even if he knew the agents would not gun down unknown mutants on sight, there was always the chance that one would get trigger happy.

The ding of the elevator door opening to the floor caught Rogue's attention. It was such an odd noise for their present situation that Rogue had to look. The elevator doors opened, showcasing the form of a man, backlit from the dim elevator lights. Rogue watched, mesmerized as the man stepped from the elevator and into the blackened room. Every step he took commanded attention and authority. There was a stern sort of arrogance to each deliberate movement as he approached the lead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Rogue held her breath.

"Shoulder your weapons," he commanded in that all too familiar tone.

Rogue felt her knees go weak as he stepped into the light where she could see him. Not that she needed him to. She had already identified him the moment she'd seen him move.

Gambit.

The only difference in his appearance from how she knew him was his clothing. He looked resplendent and regal in his S.H.I.E.L.D uniform. Yet he somehow managed to look colder, even tougher than he had as a mercenary.

"Special Agent LeBeau," the lead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent addressed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Stand down, agent and shoulder your weapons," Gambit said again with the exact same tone.

"But, sir! We are following direct orders—"

"I know your orders," Gambit snapped irritably. "And I'm telling you to shoulder your weapons and stand down. That mutant over there, the dark haired one you have your sights on—"

"Yes, Wolverine, _we know_, but—"

"The other one," Gambit replied tersely, his voice edging on venom. "Is Jean-Paul Beaubier."

The gasps and murmurs throughout the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents was audible. So was the sound of weapons quickly being shouldered. As fast as the laser sights had been on the three surrounded mutants, they were now off.

Gambit tilted his head slightly, turning his attention to Rogue. He eyed her carefully, his gaze moving slowly over her in silent contemplation. Rogue couldn't help it, she actually gulped.

Gambit shook his head softly in disbelief, lifting his eyes to meet hers. "You are an X-man."

"I—" she was about to explain when Jean-Paul rushed forward.

"Where is my sister, you bastard?" he demanded angrily.

Gambit lifted his eyebrows in a nonplussed sort of way. "I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do!" Jean-Paul shouted. "We know all about the gardening website, the communications, now where is my sister?"

"Your sister is dead, Jean-Paul," Gambit answered calmly. "You know that."

"You're lying!" Jean-Paul cried in agony before he lunged at Gambit with a rage Rogue had never seen Jean-Paul display before.

With the quickness of his mutation in effect, Jean-Paul swiftly knocked Gambit backwards. The surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly pulled their weapons.

Rogue covered her mouth in horror. If she and Logan didn't do something to diffuse this situation quickly, it was going to end badly.


	31. Chapter 31

Rogue only needed to see the expression on Logan's face to know he wasn't going to intervene. Logan was going to sit back and watch Jean-Paul start a fight. In fact, he looked rather smug and appreciative of Jean-Paul's outburst.

"Logan!" Rogue hissed, prompting him to respond.

"Been wanting to do that to the guy myself on many an occasion," he mused aloud as Jean-Paul struck Gambit with enough speed that he actually toppled over. "I reckon he had it coming."

Rogue threw her hands up in exasperation and dashed after Jean-Paul before this got out of hand. The surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D agents looked a little too itchy on the triggers for Rogue's liking. She reached out, grabbing the back of Jean-Paul's shirt and yanked him backwards. Although it was just after he managed to punch Gambit in the face.

"Jean-Paul, stop it! This isn't helping!" she shouted, sounding more like a parent than a friend.

Jean-Paul stopped struggling. Her words seemed to help him regain at least some of his common sense. "He's lying," he replied angrily. "You and I both know it!"

Gambit was brushing himself off in a manner that implied that Jean-Paul's outburst had been nothing more than a small nuisance. "Shoulder your weapons," Gambit commanded again to the agents, almost bored, but the ire of repeating a command came through loud and clear in his tone of voice. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reluctantly put their weapons away, this time with no further argument.

Rogue tried to mollify Jean-Paul. "At least let him explain himself before you attack him."

"I assure you, regardless of what you think, I know nothing of your sister or her death," Gambit repeated as calmly as possible.

Jean-Paul looked like the definition of pure fury. This time when he lunged again for Gambit, Logan stepped in and helped Rogue hold him back. Rogue couldn't help but glower at Logan. _Now_ he was helping?

Logan shrugged off her dirty look. "Thought a few punches would help cool him off. Apparently not."

"I know she's alive! I'm not stupid!" Jean-Paul raged.

"You are mistaken—" Gambit began again before he was interrupted.

"It's all right, Remy. It's over now."

She stood so quietly by the elevator doors that Rogue hadn't even realized she was there in the first place. She stepped forward, accompanied by a hardened man wearing an eye patch. Rogue cast a glance in Logan's direction. His demeanor implied that these two new people hadn't evaded his senses. Logan had known the moment they had arrived. And he'd known to hold Jean-Paul back from another attack on Gambit while these two were present.

"Fury," Logan grumbled, nodding his head to the unknown man. Rogue arched an eyebrow. So this man was the infamous leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury. A man Logan both admired and despised.

"Logan," the man replied just as curtly. "Of course you'd be here."

It took Rogue a moment to realize exactly who the woman standing beside Fury was. She wore dark rimmed glasses, hiding those familiar bright eyes, and wore a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform that matched Gambit's. Her dark hair was so much shorter, cropped close to her skull. Her skin was a deep, dark tan; contrasting the paleness of her twin brother's complexion. She was almost unrecognizable. _Almost._

"Jeanne-Marie," Jean-Paul whispered in shock, taking one look at the woman. He dipped forward, unstable on his feet and Rogue helped steady him. For a moment she thought he was going to faint. It would be understandable. The last time he'd seen his sister, he had thought she was dead. To him, this was like seeing a ghost. "You're…alive. You're really alive."

Jeanne-Marie could only nod before the tears ran freely down her face and she rushed towards her brother. The two crumpled into an embrace filled with sobs and smiles. Rogue felt tears well up in her own eyes, until she diverted her attention to Gambit.

_Gambit._

A man she thought she knew. Only now she realized that she didn't know him at all.

Gambit. An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He'd been playing her from the start. He'd been playing all of them. What he was doing wasn't any different than what she had done. Gambit was a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. She was a spy for the X-men. Still, it didn't change the fact that he had lied.

Gambit met her gaze and helplessly dropped his hands to his sides in a gesture that proved he had no idea what to say. Rogue, however knew exactly what to say. Seeing Jean-Paul's misery end in the blink of an eye had queued up everything she needed to say.

She walked up to Gambit, met him square on and let her open palm start the conversation. She smacked him so hard across the face that his head actually jerked to the side.

He rubbed his cheek. "Okay…I'll admit I deserved that." He gave her the saddest, sorriest eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you. I really tried not to get involved…intimately, but you've got to understand—"

Rogue gaped at him, before interrupting him. "You think I'm angry because you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? _That's _why you think I'm angry?" Unbelievable. Utterly unbelievable!

Gambit ran his hand across the back of his neck rather guiltily. "Well, I did up until now…"

"Being angry at you because you're spy would make me a bit hypocritical, wouldn't it?" she snapped back irritably. God, what did he think she was? She cocked a hand on her hip and gave him a reproachful glare.

"Okay…" Gambit raised his eyebrows in confusion. It was obvious he was oblivious to why she was angry.

"You _knew_," she hissed in contempt, trying to voice her anger. "All this time you _knew _she was alive."

Gambit remained silent. His silence aided Rogue in finding her voice _and_ her angry words. How could Gambit not realize that this was why she was so upset? How could something so unbelievably huge slip his mind? He'd been lying to Jean-Paul about his sister for three years!

"He tried to kill himself!" she shrieked in a sudden upsurge of rage, all the more furious at his silence. Her anger unfurled in a mighty, uncontrolled rush. "And not just once! You could have prevented that!"

"I did—"

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place! All you had to do was tell him the truth!"

A hand clamped down firmly on her shoulder. "Rogue," Logan said quietly, trying to steer her away. "He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He had his orders."

"I don't care!" she shouted unreasonably, shaking Logan off. She was unable to control the livid emotions that had quickly surfaced. She turned to Gambit. "You're more despicable now than you ever were as a mercenary!"

Wordlessly, Gambit shifted his eyes to the ground and kept his jaw clenched tight.

Nick Fury seemed to watch the interaction between the two with great interest before speaking. "So this is the one who infiltrated the mercenary ranks," Fury said, eyeing Rogue up carefully. He gave Logan a pleasant smile. "I was wondering how the hell you knew to be here. Naturally, you'd have someone spying for you." He shrugged. "Nicely done. We'd have never known about the movement of Trask's lab without her. Though, Special Agent LeBeau failed to mention his informant was one of yours."

"I didn't know until now," Gambit mumbled, his head still down and eyes cast at the ground.

"And I didn't know he was part of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Rogue replied venomously.

Fury seemed to miss the hurt and anger in her voice, and continued to speak. "Special Agent LeBeau is one of my best." He gestured over to Jeanne-Marie, who was still holding her brother, but looking at them inquisitively. "His partner, Special Agent Beaubier is also quite exceptional. They've been working undercover within the MRD ranks for over three years now."

"Undercover or covert?" Logan questioned wryly.

Fury smiled a sharp smile. "Never can get one past you, can I?"

Logan shook his head, bemused. "Not yet, anyway."

Fury gave an exasperated sigh. "We've been building a case against the MRD—legally—for the past few years. _But_…along the way, we've been picking up a few items on our wish list."

Rogue's head shot up in recognition. "The missing mutants and employees!"

Fury gave Rogue his sharpened smile. "In our custody or confinement."

"Judge and jury." Logan almost sneered.

Fury gave a nonchalant shrug. "Nobody seems to miss them. However, some are too prolific and will be tried through the normal government channels."

Rogue narrowed her eyes. It was all coming together very quickly. She knew now why Gambit had been so insistent on getting Jean-Paul to safety. "The von Struckers. That's why you needed Jean-Paul safe at any cost."

Fury raised his eyebrows.

Rogue hurried on, explaining the words she hadn't meant to say aloud, "At first, Gambit was keeping an eye on his partner's brother out of duty and a promise, but then that all changed the night Jean-Paul had been taken by the von Struckers. Jean-Paul is a witness to their crimes. You need him to testify. You needed him away from the MRD during your raid in case he was harmed in the process."

Nick Fury gave Logan a look of wonder. "She's good."

"You can't have her," Logan replied with a hint of steel.

"Right now my brother is the most important mutant on the planet," Jeanne-Marie spoke up, still clutching her brother. "Not only is he the only mutant to survive one of the von Strucker's experiments, but he's also had over three years of exposure to the MRD's crimes." She turned helplessly towards Jean-Paul. "I am sorry, but I had no choice to lead you like a lamb to the slaughter. You see, it was for the greater good."

Jean-Paul frowned suspiciously and pulled from his sister's grasp. "What do you mean?"

This time Jeanne-Marie turned her head away in guilt and sorrow.

Jean-Paul reached for his sister. "Jeanne-Marie? What do you mean?"

Rogue sighed as Jeanne-Marie began to cry again. "It means that your sister knew all along about the MRD hiring mutants. I suspect that in the years you were estranged, she joined S.H.I.E.L.D." She turned to Jeanne-Marie almost bitterly. "Isn't that right?"

Jeanne-Marie nodded her head in agreement and the gesture alone looked like it was breaking her heart. "We needed an in. We had to get inside the MRD, and only mutant twins were being hired at that time." She choked back a sob and turned to Jean-Paul. "We made sure you caught wind of the financial opportunity and got in contact with me."

Jean-Paul looked like he'd been slapped across the face. "You mean to tell me that all along you _used_ me?"

"I'm so sorry, Jean-Paul," Jeanne-Marie whispered in remorse.

"If you knew she was alive, she never would have been able to stay undercover," Gambit said, joining the conversation. "We needed someone with her medical background on the inside. While she worked under the MRD as a mutant, she was also gathering information on exactly what she needed to know to be hired as a scientist later on."

"And what about the body in the lab?" Rogue asked accusingly. She wasn't going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. go without explaining _that_. "Just who the hell died for Jeanne-Marie?"

"A Jane Doe that resembled Jeanne-Marie. The MRD wouldn't pay too much attention to a dead mutant," Gambit admitted. "Longshot switched the bodies while he worked as a mechanic in the labs."

Rogue narrowed her eyes and shook her head in disappointment. How could she have been so stupid? "He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent too. I knew there was something strange between you two."

Logan laughed abruptly. "Three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to do what one of my X-men could."

Nick Fury scowled. "We're not some vigilante group making up our own rules. There are laws and rules that need to be followed. This entire operation has been carefully planned out since day one. We've been collecting evidence and building a solid case against the MRD. While you think you can just show up, do some spying and everything will be just peachy?" Fury laughed barbarically. "I don't think so."

"You're right, Fury," Logan said dangerously, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changing. "I'll just be taking my team and going then. Rogue? Sad eyes?"

"Coming," Rogue mumbled. What else could she say? She'd gotten her answers, and quite frankly, she wasn't too happy about any of them. Right now, she wanted to be as far away from S.H.I.E.L.D. and its ethics. Hell, she'd thought some of Logan's practices were bad, but faking a death? Switching a body with that of a Jane Doe? At least now she knew where he'd gotten some of it from. She wasn't even going to touch on the betrayal Jean-Paul had just been exposed to.

"Whoa," Fury interrupted tensely. "Jean-Paul stays with us."

"No, I'm not," Jean-Paul answered firmly, surprising everyone in the room. He cast his gaze from his sister, to Gambit and finally to Nick Fury. He pointed resolutely at Rogue and Logan. "No one has hurt me under their watch."

"Jean-Paul," Jeanne-Marie gasped in disbelief.

"I can't say the same about the rest of you," he finished quietly. "I will be with the X-men until you need me in court. You can come for me then." With that, Jean-Paul walked towards the elevator. Rogue and Logan followed.

Rogue had to admit, the look of shock on Logan's face was priceless. Her leader had not in the slightest expected Jean-Paul to leave with them. It almost made the evening worth it; if she could blatantly forget everything she had just learned about Jeanne-Marie, Gambit and the whole deceitful mess of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was no wonder Logan had quit that organization and came to Xavier's school for the gifted. He'd needed all the help he could get cleansing his soul and making amends for past crimes—even if they were for 'the greater good'. Thankfully, Xavier's had done just that for Logan. And thankfully, Xavier's school was intent on preparing mutants for the 'greater good' without using such abominable tactics as S.H.I.E.L.D.

As they all walked silently back to their vehicle, Rogue had a newfound appreciation for Logan. He never talked much about his past; certainly not a lot about his time with S.H.I.E.L.D. Rogue finally understood why he kept his past just that. His past. Sure, Logan had his moments where she utterly hated the man, but the things he could accomplish when he set his mind in the direction of compassion…

She smiled up at him in admiration.

Logan growled uncomfortably when he caught her. "What?"

"Nothing." Rogue continued to smile. "Just glad you're on our side."

"Whatever," Logan mumbled in his surliest tone while turning his head to the side to hide his small smile. "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>Back at the mansion, Jean-Paul had retreated to his bedroom with Rogue following closely behind him.<p>

"I'm fine," he muttered, shrugging off his shirt while Rogue sat nervously on his bed. She wanted nothing more than to comfort her friend and severely hurt anyone who would deliberately hurt him. Even if that someone was his own twin sister.

"You're not fine," Rogue replied severely. "You've had quite a bit of shock for one night."

Jean-Paul slipped into his pajama bottoms and sighed. "At least she's alive. I am very thankful for that."

"And?"

He gave a pitiful laugh. "And I guess all those years of using her finally came back to bite me in the ass. How's that for karma?"

"You didn't lure her into a dangerous situation and criminal activity."

"I did my best to guilt her into joining." He sighed again. "She put on a real good show. I really thought that I had to convince _her_ to join the MRD. In reality it was the other way around. I feel like such an idiot."

"She faked her death and kept it from you."

"I understand why," Jean-Paul replied somewhat diplomatically. "The MRD would have been highly suspicious if I wasn't grief stricken." He rubbed his wrists subconsciously. "I guess I played my role unwittingly well."

"Best not to dwell on it," Rogue answered quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was have Jean-Paul spiral into depression.

Jean-Paul made a sour face that said he was going to dwell on everything after she left him for the night. How could he not? It was exactly what she was going to do about Gambit.

"What about you and Gambit?" Jean-Paul asked.

God, he had an uncanny ability for seemingly reading her thoughts.

The sting of Gambit's betrayal was one she was sure would take some time. Jean-Paul could understand the deceit, but she couldn't. Not when Jean-Paul had almost died because of it. Gambit could have told him and swore him to secrecy well before Jean-Paul hit the suicidal thoughts. As far as Rogue was concerned, Gambit was directly responsible for that, regardless of what his job was or his orders were. An innocent man almost died because of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets.

Rogue brushed off Jean-Paul's question. "Nothing to report there. It's over."

"Well, at least he isn't really a bad guy. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Rogue almost laughed at the irony. Yeah, that was what she had wanted.

"Being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent seems to be just as bad," she remarked dryly.

"Better than being a Thief," Jean-Paul retorted.

Rogue's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Oh no! You are _not_ siding with him!"

Jean-Paul held his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying, there are a lot worse things a guy raised in the Thieves' Guild could be."

"And what of your sister?" Rogue shot back.

"Well, of course I'm mad as hell with her," Jean-Paul answered thoughtfully. "But she's my sister. My family. I can stay mad for a long time, but not mad forever."

"I can stay mad forever at _him_," Rogue grumbled childishly.

Jean-Paul hopped onto the bed beside her and candidly threw his arms around her in a tight hug. "Liar," he teased.


	32. Chapter 32

In the weeks that followed her fateful confrontation with S.H.I.E.L.D., Rogue tried to regain some normalcy in her life. While Jean-Paul had been in contact with his sister and was working on mending bridges, Rogue was not in contact with Gambit. She hadn't heard from him since the night they'd both discovered who each other really were.

She adamantly kept telling herself that she was better for it. To admit that she missed Gambit and wanted to talk to him would be admitting defeat. She stubbornly refused to be the one to give in first and try to contact him. It was easy for both of them if either desired to speak to the other. They each had half of a twinset. Gambit worked closely with Jeanne-Marie, and Rogue lived at the mansion with Jean-Paul. It would be nothing to get word to the other through the twins. Yet, things did not go that way.

Instead, Rogue made the effort to start seeing Warren. She was determined to fall for a nice, decent man and Warren fit that bill perfectly. The only problem was that she still was not attracted to Warren the way he was attracted her. No matter how hard she tried, Rogue just couldn't change her feelings. She couldn't will herself to love someone else other than Gambit. It made her furious. It made her try even harder.

Inevitably, there were some things she was going to have to admit defeat in.

Her relationship with Warren was one of those things.

Her stubbornness revolving Gambit was another.

It was now or never, and Rogue couldn't keep leading Warren on, no matter how badly she wanted to like him romantically. She wished that she could pick a better time, rather than right in the middle of lunch, but she'd lose her nerve if she didn't say what was on her mind now.

"Warren," she sighed his name uncomfortably from across the table. "We need to talk."

"Oh hell," he breathed in response, putting his fork down carefully. "I knew this was coming."

Rogue frowned. "You did?"

Warren gave her sheepish expression. "Look, I know you haven't really been that into me since day one. If you were, you wouldn't have hesitated like you did at the gallery. I knew then, but…well, I just wanted to keep trying in hopes things changed."

"I'm sorry," Rogue answered, and she truly was. "I like you, but as friend. Lord knows I've tried to like you romantically, but, well…I just don't."

Warren sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I had hoped…well, it doesn't matter now." He looked up at her and smiled. "If you only want to be friends, then friends we shall be."

"Thanks, Warren." Rogue smiled tightly. "I hope you find a nice girl, real soon."

"Maybe one who flies," Warren mused aloud. "It'd be nice to take to the skies on a date."

Rogue gave him a reproachful stare. "We could have gone flying any time you wanted to. Still, can—as friends."

Warren blushed and tugged at his collar. "I know that we could have with your mutation, it's just I didn't want you seeing the things I thought about…with you."

"Oh!" Rogue replied, now the one with the red face and completely flustered. "Oh God, um…yeah."

Warren laughed. "Nice to see you can still be unnerved. You've closed yourself off lately."

"Yeah," Rogue replied slowly. "Had a lot on my mind since—"

"Your time with the MRD and how it ended. I know."

Rogue bit her lip and winced. "You know all about that?"

Warren shook his head. "No, I just know that something happened while you were there that…I don't know…changed you. Neither you or Jean-Paul talk much about it." He laughed nervously. "You guys kind of remind me of Logan in that respect."

Rogue reached across the table and grasped Warren's hand lightly. "It's nice to know that you'll listen if I ever want to talk."

"Yeah," Warren answered gratefully. "That's what I was so ineloquently trying to get at."

Rogue couldn't quite describe the relief she felt knowing that Warren didn't know the extent of her troubles these days. She hadn't told anyone at the mansion about what had transpired between herself and Gambit while she had been with the MRD. Jean-Paul was the only one who knew, and he'd die first before he let anything slip in his gossip that could potentially hurt Rogue.

Logan seemed oblivious, even after Rogue's rather heated and dramatic confrontation with Gambit all those nights ago. Any fool could have seen that the two had had something going on. For Logan not to have bothered with it was strange. Rogue had expected it to be one of the first things out of Logan's mouth when they had arrived back at the mansion, but Logan never brought it up. Either he honestly didn't realize that she had been involved with Gambit beyond that of her job, or he was wisely keeping his big, condescending trap shut.

She wasn't even sure at this point if there was any reason for anyone to know of her tumultuous fling with Gambit. Nothing had come of it but a broken heart and immense disappointment. When she thought back on her behaviour, she felt such an intense embarrassment. She had acted like such a fool. A love struck, idiotic fool. God, just remembering the countless times she had thrown herself shamelessly at the man had her cheeks burning. Thank God, only Jean-Paul knew how she had behaved while undercover.

When Rogue left the restaurant by herself that afternoon, she went directly to see Logan. She had fixed her problem with Warren and all had gone well. Sure, Warren was disappointed, but at least he was still willing to put his wounded pride aside and remain friends with her. Honestly, though she couldn't have pictured it ending any other way with Warren. All those moments in the past that she feared she would lose the friendship were the result of her own insecurities while being undercover.

It happened to the best of them. It had been bound to happen to her sooner or later. Rogue had known that eventually the job would start getting to her and an assignment would get under her skin. This stint with the MRD had. Rogue couldn't forget how often she felt for the enemy, sympathized with them. And it wasn't just Gambit or Jean-Paul. It had been Cortez as well. How many times had Rogue questioned her loyalties? How many times had she 'gone native' and embraced what a mercenary really did? She couldn't deny that she had enjoyed the unbridled violence against Andrea. She really would have killed that woman had she gotten the chance. And why? Because Rogue had momentarily forgotten that she was only an X-man disguised as a mercenary and not actually a mercenary.

At the time, she had felt no ties to her team, no love, no appreciation. She had been alone, and then she'd been accepted by Jean-Paul. She had found a meaningful friendship. Then she had found love. She had fallen head over heels, madly in love with a man she never should have. Gambit was, by all accounts, the very example of why she needed to quit while she was ahead. She'd been lucky this time. As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Gambit had been one of the good guys, but what if he hadn't been?

Rogue shuddered to think about it. What if Gambit had turned out to be just as awful as the von Struckers? She argued with herself that she could never love such a man, but what if she had? Would she have abandoned her real team, her duty, her job, for the love of one man? Would she have lost herself to the carnal desires and crossed over to becoming a real mercenary, a real MRD agent?

She liked to think that she would never lose herself to such a thing, but she'd already proven to herself that she had. In the end, she had been willing to drop everything for more time with Gambit. Rogue held onto that guilt as solidly as the phone she'd captured MRD crimes on. She never had given or shown Logan the video evidence she had collected from Trask's lab. It seemed pointless now; S.H.I.E.L.D. was taking care of everything. There was no need for the X-men's involvement. Logan had even backed down at the main building when confronted by Nick Fury.

If anyone knew when a battle was over, it was Logan. Lord knew he'd seen his share of battles over the years. It was remarkable to see how far Logan had really come when Rogue had actually witnessed him back down from a fight. She knew taking the MRD down had been a thorn in Logan's side since the day he resurrected the concept of Charles Xavier's X-men. It had been his cause, his battle, his fight. And he'd simply walked away from it.

It had to irk him just a little to let it lie and leave it alone, especially in the hands of Nick Fury and his S.H. I.E.L.D. agents. Still, Logan had shown remarkable restraint and let sleeping dogs lie. Xavier would have been proud.

Rogue knocked on Logan's office door. She shook her head at the thought of Logan having an office. It was preposterous. Logan belonged in office the way a pig belonged at a pony show.

"Come in," Logan answered from behind the door. He looked up from his desk and Rogue fought back a snicker. His desk!

"I need to talk to you, Logan," Rogue said as she entered the room. "About all this double agent stuff."

Logan tipped his chair and leaned back. "I'm all ears, kid."

"I'm done with it," Rogue replied, surprised at how steady her voice sounded. "I'm not doing it anymore. I don't like it, I never have and I don't care what you say about it. I'm done." There. Years of insecurities and unhappiness had finally come out in a remarkably small amount of words. Rogue braced herself for his reaction.

Logan folded his hands behind his head. "Okay," he answered plainly.

Rogue frowned slightly and wrinkled her nose in confusion. "That's it? Just like that?"

"If you're done, you're done." Logan shrugged. "Honestly, I thought you were going to say that a lot sooner."

"You knew I hated doing it," Rogue said slowly. "Yet you never once stopped sending me as a double agent."

"Nobody likes working undercover. Hell, I don't even like working undercover and I'll be damned to admit that you've completed more missions as a spy than I ever did. Took you a lot longer to let it get to you. That's saying something."

"I did more missions undercover _than you_?" Rogue asked incredulously. She could hardly believe her ears. "And you had the gall to constantly ride my ass on everything I did?"

"And look at what you've accomplished," Logan replied smoothly. "You think just anyone can take that?" He laughed. "Can you imagine what Bobby would do? He'd quit. But not you. You, Rogue, are a rare breed. You're a pit fighter. You take all that bullshit and insist on proving it all wrong. Never the other way around. You've always called your own shots, I just encouraged it the only way I knew how."

Rogue wrinkled her nose in disbelief. "So that's it? I'm done?"

"If it's getting bad enough for you admit you're done, then you're done. Ain't nobody gonna make that call but you," Logan reaffirmed.

"And I can go back to regular missions? With the team?" Rogue asked, trying to find the catch.

"Yup."

"Okay then," Rogue answered, slightly stunned. "I guess I'll be going then."

"Before you leave, you should know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming to fetch Jean-Paul today for the von Strucker/Trask trials."

"Oh?" Rogue answered, a bitter taste forming in her mouth. She shouldn't ask, but she did anyway. "Who's coming to get him?"

"His sister."

"Right," Rogue replied, trying her best to hide the disappointment that laced her voice. Of course it'd be Jeanne-Marie and not Gambit. Jeanne-Marie didn't have to hide her existence anymore or have Gambit cover for her.

"Jean-Paul will most likely be gone a few days. You think you can handle that?" Logan asked with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I had a life before Jean-Paul, you know."

Logan laughed. "Yeah, but he makes things quite a bit more lively around here, doesn't he?

"Yeah." Rogue smiled fondly.

In the past few weeks, Jean-Paul had managed to inaugurate himself perfectly into the X-man way of life. Since his arrival, a small spark of what had been missing since Professor Xavier ran things was finally relit. The mansion seemed less somber, less dismal with Jean-Paul's hearty laughter and carefree approach to life. He had become a living testament that good things prevailed even through the worst of times. Jean-Paul had seen a lot of heartache and a lot of pain, yet his smile and laugh were still genuine. He had hope. He held it like a beacon and the rest of the team couldn't help but take notice and shift their attitudes; even Logan seemed less harsh and more relaxed in his position as leader these days.

"I'm thinking of asking him to join the team," Logan said abruptly. "Any thoughts?"

"I think it's a great idea."

And she did. Jean-Paul joining was the icing on the cake to Rogue's day so far. She couldn't wait to tell him all her good news. Things were finally starting to fall nicely and neatly into place for her.

Naturally, it meant that something…or in the case, _someone_ was on their way to upset the balance. When Logan had mentioned that Jeanne-Marie was coming to get her brother for the hearings, Rogue didn't realize that it was now.

As in right now.

She'd barely left Logan's office before she heard Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie in the front foyer.

"Might as well see him off, myself," Logan said from behind her, closing his office door. "It'd be good to give Fury a reminder that Jean-Paul has our full backing."

Rogue knew he was talking about the whole 'custody of Jean-Paul' thing that had been going on since Jean-Paul had left with the X-men. Nick Fury was furious that Jean-Paul wasn't under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s constant surveillance. Rogue suspected that Logan threw it in Fury's face a little too often during their brief contact throughout the past couple weeks. Logan and Fury acted like angry, divorced parents when it came to Jean-Paul. Fury was constantly phoning and checking up, and Logan was constantly baiting the man. It was just short of —_'he has more fun at my house. He likes me better. I'm the better parent'._

Rogue thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous. Jean-Paul was a grown man, but until the trials came to an end, Logan and S.H.I.E.L.D. would be bickering over him. Rogue suspected that once the trials were over and S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer needed Jean-Paul, they would be more than happy to leave him with the X-men. At least that was the outcome she was hoping for.

Rogue followed Logan to the front foyer and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was standing with Jeanne-Marie.

Gambit.

She swore her heart just fell like a hard lump all the way down to her stomach. He looked good. Really good. He wore a less combative version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform than the last time she had seen him. He looked neat and professional, standing straight and at ease—much like a solider. How Rogue could have foolishly thought that the weeks away from him would somehow make him less appealing to her, she didn't know. He caught her eye briefly and Rogue swore silently to herself when she realized she was subconsciously fixing her hair, smoothing it back and out of her eyes.

She had been caught off guard; she hadn't had any preparation to meet him after almost a month. She wanted to look her best— vanity always played a part when coming face to face with an ex-lover. Instead, she simply looked like she always did. At least she was dressed nicely enough from her lunch with Warren earlier—a small comfort when coming face to face with Gambit. She briefly wondered if he had any idea just how hot he looked in a uniform.

While Logan and Jeanne-Marie wasted no time negotiating arrangements regarding Jean-Paul, Rogue silently stood back, trying her best not to make eye contact with Gambit. He was doing the same. Jean-Paul was busy looking back and forth between the two, trying not to laugh as both were sneaking peeks at the other while one quickly glanced away.

"—that pretty much covers it," Logan was saying when he turned to Jean-Paul. "We'll see you in a few days. Don't hesitate to call if you need us."

Jean-Paul was shaking Logan's hand and thanking him when Jeanne-Marie interrupted, "Um…that actually isn't everything we came for."

Logan arched an eyebrow in Jeanne-Marie's direction. It was meant to be intimidating, but Jeanne-Marie wasn't paying attention to Logan. She was too busy trying to nudge a mortified looking Gambit forward and into the spotlight.

"Say it!" she hissed to him like an overbearing sister.

"Just leave it," Gambit was muttering back, completely embarrassed and trying desperately to brush her arm away.

Jeanne-Marie gave a very annoyed growl before letting go of Gambit. "Fine," she murmured to him under her breath before turning to Logan and loudly proclaiming, "He has something important he wants to say to Rogue."

Gambit stared wide eyed at Jeanne-Marie as she caught him completely off guard and shoved him forward. Jean-Paul was snickering. Logan was rolling his eyes.

Rogue immediately stepped in before Logan did. She felt the heat rise to her own cheeks as she abruptly caught Gambit by the arm and pulled him towards the kitchen. "Come on," she said, dragging him with her. It was obvious that Jeanne-Marie wasn't going to let him leave unless he talked to Rogue. And whatever it was he wanted to say to her, Rogue was positive she didn't want a bunch of interlopers involved, especially Logan. What he had to say was going to be between the two of them.

She led him through the kitchen and out the back door onto the empty patio. She did a quick check to make sure they were alone. Satisfied that they were, Rogue tried her best to quell down the giddiness she felt just from being near him again. Determined to get a grip, she crossed her arms across her chest expectantly. "Well?" she prompted coolly. "What is it you want to say?"

"I, um…" He ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up nervously. "You look good."

Rogue raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "That's it? That's what's so important?"

"Non!" he said rapidly. "That's not…" He sighed in frustration. "You aren't making this very easy."

"Should I be?" she answered tartly. She instantly regretted her tone when she saw him wince slightly. She was being a complete bitch to him, and with no real good reason. Over the past few weeks, she had long since forgiven him and the part he'd played in Jean-Paul's deception. Logan was right. Gambit hadn't been the one at fault. He had been given his orders and had been doing his job as best as he could. How could she fault Gambit for simply doing his job, or blame him for the atrocities she felt S.H.I.E.L.D. committed?

She was just as bad. She had been doing her job and following her orders. Hell, how many times had she argued with Logan about ethics on a job and then gone ahead and done what needed to be done regardless of how, so long as the end result was what they needed? She was exactly the same as Gambit. Both were the grunts doing the lowly jobs and following their orders.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, unfolding her arms and relaxing her stance. "That was unnecessarily bitchy of me. You came here to talk, and you're right, I haven't been making that easy."

"I just wanted to explain—"

"You don't need to, Gambit. I understand that you were just doing your job, same as me."

"Falling for you wasn't my job. I really never meant to hurt you," he answered quietly.

"And I never meant to hurt you," Rogue admitted.

"You didn't," he answered quickly.

"Yeah, I did. Otherwise we'd have been having this talk a lot sooner." It was true. It was an ugly bit of truth that she hated admitting, but over the past few weeks she suspected that Gambit hadn't contacted her for the same reasons she hadn't contacted him. Both were licking their wounds and trying to sort things out. How could Gambit not have been feeling like a prize idiot, same as her? Both had managed to dupe the other rather convincingly, yet still have honest to God, true feelings for the other. Now it was trying to determine if the person they'd each fallen for actually existed, or if they were simply a made up persona for a job.

"You weren't really in my room that first night because you wanted me," he acknowledged out loud, trying to keep his voice steady and mask the pain.

It was Rogue's turn to wince. She remembered that night well. She'd been collecting information from his laptop and instead of getting caught at his computer, she'd gotten caught in his bed. She hadn't meant to lead him on; it had been her only choice. She also hadn't meant to knock him out and peek inside his mind. That was the night she'd discovered he'd actually had a thing for her. She had also discovered Gambit's unpleasant past with relationships, and how badly he had wanted things with her to be real.

"Not at first," she confessed, feeling horrid and ugly inside.

"You were gathering information," he continued, not needing her to validate anymore. "It's how you came across the gardening website."

Rogue could only nod.

He gave a small self-deprecating laugh. "Three years and no one ever made that connection, but then, you were the only merc to come into that place and befriend Jean-Paul." He ran his hand through his hair again with a sad sort of smile. "I knew you didn't fit in the day you arrived. I knew you weren't one of us the moment you helped Jean-Paul move rooms. I suspected even then that you were an X-man. I even took you to the mansion on your first mission to 'out' you."

"I remember," Rogue answered softly.

"Imagine my surprise when we got there and Logan actually went after you with a fatal blow." He laughed again and it made Rogue cringe. "I thought to myself, 'Uh oh, Remy, you've really fucked up'. I was completely convinced then that you were exactly who you claimed to be, you were just hired by accident. I mean, who the hell goes after one of his own with the intent to kill? I knew if I hadn't stepped in you would have been mortally wounded and it would have been all my fault."

Rogue's voice was hardly a whisper. "I would have been fine. Logan would have given me his healing factor."

Gambit sighed a bit irritably. "I'm not even going to pretend that I understand what that means."

"It means there's a lot more to my mutation than the MRD was led to believe," Rogue admitted. "I absorb minds, and in mutants, I also absorb their powers for a short while. The knocking out bit is just a hazard when I'm not careful or I lose control over it."

Gambit's complexion blanched considerably as he silently took a moment to digest what she'd just told him.

"Wow." He rubbed his hands over his face in agitation. "And just when I thought you could no longer take me by surprise."

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "It's not really something I broadcast in our line of work."

"I understand," he answered, though Rogue didn't quite believe him. She imagined he was feeling all sorts of idiotic right now. It wasn't very often that someone was able to fool Gambit so completely.

This was the part she had hated most about working undercover and forming connections with people. All along she had been worried about Jean-Paul and how he would react when he learned the truth. She hadn't really given much thought to how Gambit would take it, other than badly. And after their confrontation at the MRD building, Rogue honestly hadn't expected to see Special Agent LeBeau again. There was too much hurt and too many lies between them that Rogue didn't know where to begin. She had no idea how to fix this, but the fact that she wanted to try meant something.

"I wish I knew how to fix this," she said in defeat.

"So, you think there might still be something between us?" he asked.

It was a loaded question. Rogue had no idea what Gambit was thinking right now or how he felt about her. He hadn't really said, even prior to what she had just told him, he hadn't said one way or the other that he still felt the same about her. She would certainly understand if he'd had a change of heart, but she would never know the truth unless she came clean now. There was nothing left to hide, and she was going to place all her cards on the table. If anything, at least Gambit would know he hadn't played the fool the entire time they'd been together. Her feelings for him were genuine. She knew that now.

"There is still something there on my end," she answered, meeting his gaze. "And I wish more than anything that we could start over."

Gambit paused for a moment, contemplating what she'd just said. He gave a small shrug that could have meant absolutely anything. Then he held his hand out towards her. Puzzled, she gingerly took his hand.

He gave her hand a firm shake. "Hi," he said simply. "I'm Special Agent Remy LeBeau."

Rogue smiled, catching on. "I'm Anna-Marie Darkholme. It's nice to finally meet you."


	33. Chapter 33

In the briefest of moments that it took to shake hands, all of the awkwardness and apprehension slipped away and was replaced with the comfort of familiarity. The giddiness Rogue had felt earlier returned threefold. She and Gambit were going to try and start over. It didn't mean that they were in the clear and set for smooth sailing, but at least it was a start. They were willing to try and salvage what had been started amongst all their previous deceit.

"Our line of work will make things difficult," Gambit stated rather bluntly.

"I'm not working undercover anymore," Rogue replied. It felt good to say it out loud. "The MRD was my final mission."

"Unfortunately, it isn't mine," Gambit answered seriously. "I have been a S.H.I.E.L.D. special agent for about seven years. I'm the best in my division, and I'm good at it."

"I know," Rogue admitted. She had seen his mind. Gambit was incredibly good at his job. _Frighteningly_ good at his job. It made her relieved to know he was one of the good guys. She didn't even want to know what he could accomplish if he ever chose to switch sides.

"The thing is, I like my job," he explained. "As much as I like the idea of having a real relationship with someone, they are going to have to understand that undercover work is what I do. It doesn't mean I'm working undercover all the time, but when I do it's often for a long time."

"Like three years," Rogue answered, thinking back to the MRD.

"Yeah," he confirmed quietly. "But I'm still working on another tied in with the MRD job."

"Your father's guild."

He nodded. "I've been working the Thieves' job since I started at S.H.I.E.L.D."

Rogue wasn't stupid. She could do the math. "Almost seven years," she whispered in shock.

"Yeah," he replied, scratching his head and slightly frowning. "It's been a long process, but with my work with the MRD coming to a close, I am this close to finally getting the Thieves."

Gambit had been working against the Thieves' Guild for approximately seven years. His own family. Rogue couldn't fathom being that close to family for so long with the sole intent of taking them down.

"That must be incredibly hard for you, they're your family."

"And they are cold-blooded criminals," he stated matter-of-factly. "If you grew up in that environment, you wouldn't be so sympathetic."

"No, I'd probably be a Thief," Rogue quipped. "So how come you aren't?"

Gambit smiled wryly. "My father and I never really saw eye to eye. He was determined to prove that I'd never be anything better than a Thief. I was determined to prove him wrong."

"So you went and joined S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Rogue asked, intrigued.

"Non, S.H.I.E.L.D. found me. Turns out they'd been looking for an in to take down the Thieves' Guild for years. I was their golden ticket and they were mine. What better way to prove your father wrong and make something of yourself than to join up with the biggest special task force team on the planet?"

Rogue couldn't argue with him there. She had done something of the same thing to her own foster mother, Mystique. She'd been brought up to be a criminal. Instead, she'd become an X-man, choosing to help the world rather than hinder it. Wow. When it really came down to it, she and Gambit were very much alike. Both rebelled against their upbringing and both had found a penchant for undercover work. No wonder they were attracted to each other. They were practically the same person.

"If you joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in New Orleans, why didn't you just stay there to take down the Thieves?" Rogue asked. It didn't really make any sense for him to come to New York and work in the lower branches when he was the heir to the Thieves' legacy.

"The discord between my father and I had escalated, I needed to leave. Plus, New Orleans has a lot of eyes and ears. Sooner or later, someone would've discovered that I had come under the employ of S.H.I.E.L.D. My career would have been over before it began. So, I left. However in leaving, we were able to step up one of the greatest infiltrations into the MRD headquarters."

"I think I can piece most of it," Rogue replied. "But there are still bits that don't make sense."

Gambit smiled. "My father is arrogant enough to believe that I'd have no choice but to come crawling back. And I did—as a ruse, of course. He allowed me to join the Thieves' New York faction as grunt. No one here knew I was actually Remy LeBeau, and my father wanted it that way. He didn't want me given any special treatment. It was his way of punishing me. In reality, it was exactly what we wanted. S.H.I.E.L.D. needed another 'in' to the MRD, but they would only hire mutant criminals or mercenaries. My father was vindictive enough to have me set up with the Marauders, taking the fall and going straight to the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. It couldn't have gone more perfectly. My time in prison and fabled escape garnered me a reputation the MRD couldn't refuse. Within the three years with them, I was able to have access to almost everything they were hiding."

Rogue had to admit that she was impressed. She had no idea that Gambit was such a motivated and determined man. He took pride in his work and did his job to perfection. These were traits that seemed to carry throughout his character as Rogue remembered what an excellent lover he had been.

Gambit cocked his head inquisitively. "Why are you suddenly blushing?"

Rogue almost choked in embarrassment. "I was just thinking of how thorough you seem to be."

Gambit's cheeks flushed slightly and he reached for her hands, clasping them gently within his. "If we have even a remote chance of this working, I have to be completely honest."

"Okay?" Rogue tried to keep her hesitation at a minimum.

Gambit licked his lips nervously, his tongue drawing slowly across his mouth. "I leave for New Orleans tomorrow, and I have no idea how long I'll be there. It could be days, it could be years."

"I understand."

His expression grew dark and worried as though she was missing the point he was trying to make. "I'd be undercover; we'd have no contact—"

"I understand," Rogue repeated gently.

He frowned. "And you're still willing to give this a try?" he asked, stupefied.

Rogue pulled her hands from his and brought them up to his face. She grazed her fingers softly over his cheek, brushing loose hair from his eyes. "There has never been anyone but you. From the moment I first saw you, there could only be you."

The kiss began immediately without even meaning to. God, how she missed this. Rogue slipped her hands into Gambit's hair as he jerked her by the waist closer to him. The softness of his lips betrayed the roughness of his touch and Rogue was reminded all over again of the contradictions of Gambit. He could never quite make up his mind with which direction he wanted to go with her—simply because he wanted to go all directions. It was one of the things Rogue realized she loved the most about him.

Their tongues met in that soft, familiar dance and her body began to tingle with warmth. It never took long at all with him for her to want more. It had been like that right from the start. She craved his touch something fierce and wanted him in so many ways that there could never be enough time to try them all. Especially with the grim reminder of their reality.

It seemed so unfair that Rogue had finally found him, only to have to say good bye for an indefinite amount of time again. But then, that was the man she loved. She didn't want Gambit to be anything other than who he was. She wanted Special Agent Remy LeBeau, he had captured her heart from the very start when she'd only caught glimpses of the man Gambit really was.

Gambit.

It felt so strange for her to call him something else. It seemed unnatural to give him a new name. Gambit was the one she was had met him as and it was hard to remember that it wasn't his real name.

She pulled her lips from his and whispered, "Remy."

His mouth curved upwards into a small, almost boyish smile. "Yeah?"

She leaned forward and nipped his bottom lip in a teasing fashion. "Just testing your name out on my tongue."

"And?"

She grinned, meeting his lips again. "And I think I should practice saying it out loud in the confines of my bed."

He raised his eyebrows. "Isn't this place full of people?"

"Aren't you going to be gone awhile?"

"Touché."

Sneaking Remy up to her bedroom was the tricky part, because Rogue had to cross the front foyer to get to the west wing where her room was located. When they reached the front foyer where Jeanne-Marie, Jean-Paul and Logan still waited, Rogue decided to act solely on impulse. With Remy's hand in hers, she brushed brazenly past everyone in the room.

"No point in waiting around for him," Rogue announced to Jeanne-Marie. "He's gonna be awhile yet."

Jeanne-Marie grinned a knowing grin while Jean-Paul laughed uproariously. "I told you so!"

Logan groaned in severe annoyance.

Jean-Paul, the master of diversion, grasped Logan's hand jovially. "I'm off. See you in a few days!"

Logan grumbled something inaudible and Rogue gave Jean-Paul a quick wink before disappearing with Remy upstairs.

Once her bedroom door closed, it was a surreal moment for the two lovers. Remy's touch was still the same. Everything from his mannerisms to his tempo, but Rogue could sense the slightest differences in him. He was much more relaxed and at ease with her than he'd previously been. With no longer having to keep up pretenses and disguises, Remy was much more languid than Rogue had anticipated. Even in the hurried movements of passion, he carried around that sense of comfort. Rogue found it oddly satisfying and comforting herself. They were strangers, and yet at the same time, they were not strangers. Just slightly different versions of themselves.

Whether rushing into sex was a good idea or not, Rogue was willing to risk it. She needed the man like she needed water or air, and if he was going to be leaving, she wanted something to remember him by. And, admittedly, something to remember her by. They needed this hasty retreat into physical intimacy. Otherwise, Rogue feared that their time apart would erode the narrow road they'd begun to build.

It wasn't like they had never been together; it was just that now neither had anything to hide. Their lovemaking was honest.

It was something both could appreciate.

And when it was over, he spent the night.

Rogue would miss him while he was gone, but not even Hell itself could make her forget a single moment of their strange, elaborate history together. She would wait for him. She'd wait an eternity for him if that was what it took—although she hoped it wouldn't take that long for him to return. She sighed. It would at least feel like an eternity to her.

She snuggled up close to him and closed her eyes, relishing each tiny movement he made in slumber. He would be gone in the morning, he had no choice. Rogue resigned to accept that Remy's job was unavoidable, but she liked to think that if the situation was the other way around, Remy would accept and support her. It was the start of a proper relationship. One based in reality and on love, rather than secrets, lies and lust. Even with Remy leaving, this was what Rogue had always wanted. Nothing was more important that a place where one truly belonged.

And she belonged with Remy, no matter the hardships and challenges. She found that she was actually quite eager to take on the daunting task of waiting for him to return. It would be difficult to not know where he was, what he was doing, if he was okay, but it was something Rogue was willing to endure. She felt almost as though she were being tested in the real world. Tested in the art of love. She would not fail this test.

"I love you, Special Agent LeBeau," she whispered to his sleeping form. "And I always will." She brushed her lips softly across his forehead and relished their first, but certainly not last, night as an official couple.


	34. Epliogue

Epilogue

_A year and a half later._

It was all over the news. It was on the lips of every reporter, and on the cover of every newspaper. One of North America's greatest crime syndicates had been taken down, masterfully and intricately from the inside. The mighty reign of the Thieves' Guild was over. No one could deny S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efficiency. On the heels of the Trask/von Strucker trials just over a year ago, S.H.I.E.L.D. was riding high. The public felt safe; they felt secure, they felt they could finally put some trust back into their government institutions.

It hadn't been easy, but over the past year, a lot had happened. The MRD had come into question. As much as S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to downplay the MRD's ulterior motives to the public, questions were being raised during the Trask/von Strucker trials. Logan had always suspected that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goal had been to take down the MRD as quietly as possible. From S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standpoint they had not wanted to induce public outcry, riots, mass hysteria, or worse—a civil war.

When the trials had begun, Logan had already been quite aware of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plan to quietly avoid bringing the MRD into the public light as much as possible. They tried their best to separate the crimes of Trask and the twins from the MRD. Rogue had to hand it Logan. He had backed down from fighting with Fury that night at the MRD base, already knowing full well that the battle wasn't over. Instead, Logan had spent his time planning for an even bigger, yet peaceful, confrontation.

The solution had come easily for the team. It was during the trials that Warren had finally decided to come out and reveal his mutant status to the public. In light of Jean-Paul's testimony, there was much public debate over mutants. On one spectrum, Jean-Paul was a victimized mutant, but on the other stood the von Struckers. The public could not deny the dangers of mutants while the von Struckers stood trial. Though the twins had been the less violent and less monstrous of the von Strucker/Trask team up, they were the ones that brought immediate attention due to their mutant status. Trask was all but over shadowed.

Until Warren Worthington Junior, New York's media darling and celebrated philanthropist revealed his status as a mutant. It was very hard for the general public to view all mutants as monsters when their beloved Warren bore the X-gene in the form of pure white 'angel' wings. It was Warren who raised questions loudly to the media, pointing his eloquent finger in the direction of the MRD. It was Warren who had 'acquired' video evidence of what the MRD had been fully aware of all along: that the mutants they were detaining were being unethically experimented on.

Warren had suddenly become the new face of the mutant population. The public finally had a mutant figure that would raise doubts in their minds regarding the dangers of 'all mutants'. It was Warren who pointed out at a benefit that not all mutants were monsters, just as not all humans were saints. That monsters came just as readily in human form.

It had been a very turbulent time for mutants during the trials, but they had persevered. In the end, the MRD faced judgement for their crimes and the program had been immediately terminated. It didn't mean it would stay that way forever. Rogue knew that where one group failed, another was always willing to take up the banner. There were still those who hated and feared mutants. There always would be, but at least the team had finally been able to raise awareness to the public, to speak and be heard. It was a time of great change, and Logan felt pretty pleased with the final outcome. He had bested Fury, and had done it with the least amount of violence possible—something Professor Xavier would have been proud of.

As for Rogue, the past year had been especially difficult for her. Being out of touch with Remy had been harder than she had initially thought, especially while there was so much uncertainty in the air as mutant rights and awareness were being brought to public attention. Not only that, but she worried about him all the time. Being at the heart of the Thieves' territory was particularly dangerous.

Thankfully, Rogue had Jean-Paul to rely on. Her best friend had readily accepted Logan's offer to join the X-men, much to Nick Fury's disappointment. Fury had offered Jean-Paul a spot with S.H.I.E.L.D. which Jean-Paul had turned down, citing that he did not think it was good for his family relations to work with his sister. Jeanne-Marie had been disappointed, but she understood. Jean-Paul needed to carve out his own path and could not rely on Jeanne-Marie to do so. He loved and cherished his sister dearly and valued his bond with her, but he refused to ever take her for granted again. He feared that working so closely with her could potentially dig up old habits.

The twins' relationship thrived and healed. They were together and apart at the same time. Close, yet far. Through Jeanne-Marie, Jean-Paul would gather bits of information on Remy and report back to Rogue. The twins had become Rogue's life line. Jeanne-Marie would never reveal anything of worth regarding Remy's mission, but Rogue didn't need details. She just needed to know that Remy was alright. Jeanne-Marie could accommodate that easily enough.

It wasn't until Rogue had woken up one morning and saw the front page of the paper that she realized Remy would be coming back. There was a photo of the Thieves' Patriarch being led, handcuffed to an armored S.H.I.E.L.D. van with a headline reading, "_New Orleans sees the fall of the Thieves' Guild_". Rogue felt the immediate surge of pride. Remy had completed his mission.

In the days that followed, more and more Thieves and their affiliates were being arrested and brought into custody, but Rogue had heard nothing from Remy. Surely, with his work done, he would be returning? Yet days turned into weeks and still no word from Remy.

It was around the time that she began to worry that maybe Remy wasn't returning to her that he showed up out of the blue on the mansion's doorstep. He stood plainly at the front door, dressed in dark jeans and simple white T-shirt, a pair of sneakers on his feet. He looked young and tired, old and nervous all at the exact same time.

For the life of her, Rogue couldn't find her words. All she could do was stare at him, like she was dreaming and would wake up at any second to find him gone.

"I, uh…" he started hesitantly. "I should have called first, and I understand if you've changed your mind." He ran his hands haphazardly through his hair. "A year and a half is a long time—merde, I really should have called first."

The shock on her face broke into an easy smile. He was really here. She wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. He was almost exactly as she remembered him. After a year and a half, he had returned for her. She had patiently waited, unknowing what the future held for them and now it was finally upon them.

"Remy!" she cried, her inability to speak shattering in a moment of sheer emotion. She threw herself at him, her arms wrapping tightly around him.

He looked stunned, but folded his arms just as tightly around her. "You waited for me," he said in awe. "You really waited."

"Of course I did," Rogue answered, not willingly to let him out of her grasp. "I told you I would."

"I know," he replied, his cheeks flushing slightly pink. "It's just—"

Rogue tipped her head upwards to his. She knew how he felt. She had felt the exact same uncertainty. They had been so new when he had left. He had worried, just as she had, that it wouldn't be enough to hold on to. That time would inevitably slip them apart and feelings would change. She had held on to him in her memory as hard as she could throughout the past year and a half. She had thought of him constantly, relentlessly, desperate to keep him close to her heart. She knew the fear he felt, finally meeting face to face after such a length of time apart, after so much wanting and so much trying.

"It has only ever been you," she whispered right before Remy kissed her.

End


End file.
